Emmanuel Macron, elected worst defender of the French language

“Look at what our President of the Republic and his ministers are doing in government!”

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Gathered this Thursday, December 15 around a table of the French brasserie Lipp, located in the Parisian district of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the members of the Academy of the English Rug listen to one of them fume.

The jurors of this prize, created in 1999, aim to elect a member of the French elite who has distinguished himself by his

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Among the members of the jury are a dozen literary personalities and lovers of the French language: Philippe de Saint-Robert, president of the institution, Marc Favre d'Échallens, its permanent secretary, but also the journalist from Figaro Eugénie Bastié, the writer Benoît Duteurtre, the former ambassador Albert Salon, the former deputy Paul-Marie Costeaux and Guillemette Mouren-Verret.

Among these members, some are also involved in associations for the defense and promotion of the French language: Future of the French language, Association for the development of the French language (ASSELAF), Defense of the French language (DLF) and the Right to Understand (DDC).

The candidates in the running for the year 2022 are INRAE ​​(National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment), SNCF (whose CEO Guillaume Pepy was already a winner in 2013) for the name of its new "SNCF Connect" application.

, asks Eugenie Bastié.

Also mentioned are the city of Nice for its “I Love Nice”, and finally the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron.

“This rule of not appointing the president was elegant,

launches Julien Köberich from the literary circle of French railway workers.

Until then, the Academy had always set itself the rule of not designating a current president.

Principles that the jury exceptionally decides to lift.

Dominance of English within the EU

"The president has accepted the predominance of English in the European institutions even though he had undertaken not to do so"

, comments Philippe de Saint-Robert.

Two other reasons are mentioned against Emmanuel Macron: the fact of having entrusted the management of the OIF to Louise Mushikiwabo,

, but also for having named godmother of the next summit of the Francophonie - which will be held in 2024 in France - an artist, Yseult,

.

By this vote, the jury wishes to remind the President of Article II of the Constitution which stipulates that "the French language is the language of the Republic" and also that it is

.

It does not accept the dominance of English within the European institutions even though it is not the national language of any member country (Brexit having been there).

The Special Foreign Jury Prize was awarded to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for appointing Mary Simon to the post of Governor General of Canada, when she does not speak French, the country's second official language.

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Last year, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin was honored for having introduced a new national identity card with English subtitles.

In 2017, the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo was elected for the priority use of English as the communication language of the city of Paris for tourists and foreign students.

of Paris's bid for the 2024 Olympic Games

projected on the Eiffel Tower .

As for the foreign prize, it was awarded in 2021 to Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, for having decided alone to promote English to the rank of sole working language of the institution, to the detriment of the other European languages ​​and , in particular, of the French language, despite Brexit.