Paris
The new European order steamrolled over France’s resistance to the English language this week when the European Union overturned a French law banning foreign words on food labels. To the horror of French nationalists, French supermarkets must now carry boxes, cans, and bottles that have labels printed in English or other foreign languages; the label need only carry a picture to identify the product to French-only speakers. The E.U. has ultimate authority over regulatory matters in all its member countries. But the French daily Le Figaro condemned the E.U.’s intervention, warning that it could confuse French consumers, as well as force-feed them English. “This is an attack on cultural diversity,” Le Figaro said. “It is colonization, pure and simple.”
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