Brexit was supposed to be the French language’s chance at a comeback.

For a brief moment after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, Francophones in Paris and Brussels allowed themselves to believe that French would regain its historical standing as Europe’s language of diplomacy.

Instead, perhaps paradoxically, the opposite is taking place. Once Britain leaves the EU, only two, relatively small, EU member countries — Ireland and Malta — will still list English as an official language (alongside Irish and Maltese). It would be everyone else’s second language and thus neutral territory. Officials from non-French speaking countries like Poland, Italy or the Czech Republic are particularly eager to see the global lingua franca become the primary means of communication in the EU.

"After Brexit, there’s a big temptation to make English the language of reference even more in the future,” said Sylvie Guillaume, a French Socialist MEP and one of the European Parliament's vice presidents. “It worries me because I don’t really want us to end up speaking a language without subtlety on sensitive subjects."

Even French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged in a recent speech that Victor Hugo, the French writer, who "believed that French would be the language of Europe, would today perhaps be a little disappointed.”

In recent years, the European Parliament has stopped sending one translator for every language spoken by its MEPs during some foreign missions.

English has long been in ascendance as the EU’s main working language — especially after the last wave of enlargement brought in officials and diplomats from Central and Eastern European countries who have studied the language of Shakespeare, but not French.

The use of EU English — sometimes called “Globish” for its non-native eccentricities — has become so widespread that several institutions have made behind-the-scenes efforts to streamline costs or improve their efficiency by either prioritizing an English-only format or adding English to meetings where French was once used exclusively.

Late last month, France’s EU Ambassador Philippe Léglise-Costa walked out of a diplomatic meeting after the Council decided to use only English-language translation in a new working group on the EU’s long-term budget (ignoring his demand for arrangements for other languages).

In recent years, the European Parliament has stopped sending one translator for every language spoken by its MEPs during some foreign missions. The institution now prioritizes English translators if MEPs who participate in the mission speak English.

“This domination [of English] is not inevitable” — Emmanuel Macron

The most dramatic move is taking place at the European Court of Justice, the French language’s last EU bastion. The court’s judges have used French for the internal deliberations since its establishment in 1952, when its first seven judges were all Francophone and the U.K. was not part of the European Coal and Steel Community (a precursor to the EU).

A spokesperson from the ECJ said the court had launched a study to examine the possibility of using English in addition to French for some cases as it is “constantly reflecting on the way it can preserve and improve its efficiency” as it handles an increasing number of disputes.

“It is a lost fight,” said Alain Lamassoure, a former minister and senior French MEP from the conservative European People’s Party. “The French language has occupied a dominant position but I wouldn’t know how to maintain that.”

Last year, Mario Monti, the former Italian prime minister and European commissioner, said English should become the EU's main official language once the U.K. leaves the bloc.

Speaking at the Foreign Press Association Media Awards in London, Monti said French should be sidelined and English given a more prominent role.

But French officials, including presidents, have long been sensitive about their language, and defend its use in official meetings.

In 2006, former French President Jacques Chirac led two senior ministers in a walkout from the opening session of an EU summit when Ernest-Antoine Seillière, then France’s head of the European employers' group, gave up his mother tongue on the grounds that English is "the language of business.”

Macron has attracted notice for being more willing than his predecessors to speak in English in international settings, but he recently launched an ambitious plan to promote the use of French in Europe and the world.

“This domination [of English] is not inevitable,” Macron told French officials at a recent speech at the Institut de France in Paris. “It is up to us to simply get some rules back in place ... occupy some places again,” he said.

“English is not destined to be the only foreign language Europeans speak," he added.

According to several diplomats, French is used in most Council meetings by the French, Luxembourgish, and Belgian (if he's a Francophone) EU ambassadors. The current Greek ambassador also uses French.

“Since the beginning of the Juncker mandate, the use of French has been invigorated in internal meetings and public speeches” —Commission official

At the Commission, French is the second most used language after English, and any legislative act is translated into French, English and German.

According to statistics issued by the Commission, at least 80 percent of Commission officials speak French as a first, second or third language. There are 141,725 pages translated into French, and 422 out of 552 interpreters have had French in their language offer “for years.”

“Since the beginning of the Juncker mandate, the use of French has been invigorated in internal meetings and public speeches,” said a Commission official. “In particular, French is present in almost all meetings of the Commission.”

On April 26, Juncker gave a speech at the Greek parliament in Athens. He made a point to speak only in French.