Italian PM fights to keep language in EU

ROME, July 15 (UPI) -- The Italian prime minister said he is fighting to preserve his nation's language by urging ministers to boycott EU meetings without documents in Italian.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi wrote in a letter to Italian officials that they should pointedly walk out of any European Union meetings where they are forced to speak a language other than their own, the EU Observer reported Tuesday.

Berlusconi said his plan is part of a push to respect "the dignity" of all EU languages, including those that are spoken by smaller populations within the union.

The prime minister wrote in the letter that Italian officials should help him to "counteract the practice, begun by the European commission... (of) introducing the ambiguous notion of 'working' or 'procedural' languages, with the effect of creating a trilingual hierarchy" of English, French and German.

Berlusconi called for "constant monitoring" of languages used during EU meetings and suggested Italian ministers should "avoid participating in discussions or votes" during informal talks with EU ministers "unless working documents in our language are made available."