Bilingual identity card: the French Academy wants to seize the Council of State
The French Academy threatens to seize the Council of State because it opposes the mentions written in English on the bilingual identity card.
AFP - FRANCOIS LO PRESTI
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
The French Academy wishes to seize the highest administrative court to have the bilingual identity card repealed, which entered into circulation last August.
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The French Academy is based on article 2 of the Constitution which stipulates that "
the language of the Republic is French
".
It is also based on a law which specifies that French is the language of administrative documents.
However, if the French identity card has changed in appearance - beyond the biometric elements that it now includes -, it is to meet a European regulation of 2019 which provides that the title of the document must appear in "
the official language (s) of the Member State
”as well as“
in at least one other official language of the Union
”.
And even after Brexit, English remains an official European language.
The problem, according to the Academicians, is that France has "
been zealous
" in translating the entire identity card: last name, first name, date of birth, etc.
But contrary to what the perpetual secretary of the institution, Hélène Carrère d'Encausse asserts, French and English are not on the same level: the English characters are in italics and in lowercase, when French is written in capital.
Bilingual, even trilingual identity cards are already in circulation in Germany, Italy and Poland without giving rise to such a trench warfare.
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