The English language is losing importance in Europe, the president of the European commission has said amid simmering tensions over the Brexit negotiations.

Speaking to an audience of European diplomats and experts in Florence, Jean-Claude Juncker also described the UK’s decision to leave the EU as a tragedy.

“Slowly but surely English is losing importance in Europe,” Juncker said, to applause from his audience. “The French will have elections on Sunday and I would like them to understand what I am saying.” After these opening remarks in English, he switched to French for the rest of the speech.

Making a stout defence of the EU, Juncker said the UK had voted to leave the project despite historic successes and a recent uptick in economic growth. “Our British friends decided to leave the EU, which is a tragedy,” he said.



Juncker promised to negotiate with the UK in full transparency but added that “there should be no doubt whatsoever that it is not the EU which is abandoning the UK, they are abandoning the European Union and this is a difference which will be felt over the next few years”.

His speech follows an intervention on Thursday by the president of the European council, Donald Tusk, who called on Theresa May to show “moderation and respect” in the negotiations. On Wednesday the British prime minister had delivered an unexpected broadside against the EU, claiming the European commission and unnamed officials had been trying through various means to meddle in the UK general election campaign.

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“These negotiations are difficult enough as they are,” he said. “If we start arguing before they even begin, they will become impossible. The stakes are too high to let our emotions get out of hand because at stake are the daily lives and interests of millions of people on both sides of the Channel.”

May’s meddling charge highlights the gulf in perceptions between Downing Street and Europe. Most EU figures think a win for the Conservatives would help May keep her Eurosceptic backbenchers in line, raising the chances of a Brexit deal.

Antonio Tajani, the president of the European parliament, argued that an election soon after Brexit would complicate the chances of an agreement.

“I think for us it is better, much better, to have a new government without an election campaign problem,” he told the Guardian. “It is much better to have an election behind, rather than in front, because for us it is much better to achieve an agreement.”

Had May not called the snap election, the UK would have gone to the polls in 2020, sharpening the electoral calculations in Brexit talks for the prime minister.

Tajani played down concerns – voiced privately by some EU officials – that May’s recent rhetoric could make it harder to secure the divorce deal. “When we are in an election campaign we use slogans, of course, this is normal.”

There was a shared interest to strike a deal, he said, highlighting the importance of joint work on counter-terrorism and defence. “The UK is Europe, today but also tomorrow. We need cooperation with the UK because there are many common interests.”

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, took a swipe at Conservative backbenchers who have accused the EU of blocking agreement on the rights of EU nationals. “That is wrong, the only cause of uncertainty is Brexit.”

Elaborating on the negotiating priorities he set out earlier this week, Barnier said it was a moral duty and political necessity to protect the rights of 3.2 million EU citizens in the UK and 1.2 million British nationals on the continent.



But stressing this went far beyond the right to stay, he outlined the EU view that the Brexit deal must guarantee employment, pension and healthcare rights. He also took aim at the 85-page form for people seeking permanent residence, saying: “No one should be confronted with a mountain of red tape.” Without a deal that treated EU nationals “properly and humanely” there would be no trade talks, he said, because “there can be no trust when it comes to constructing a new relationship with the UK”.

It is not the first time the English language has been caught in the crossfire of the Brexit negotiations. At a recent EU summit May slapped down reports that Brexit negotiations would be conducted in French, and after the June referendum EU officials made it known they planned to downgrade the use of English in the corridors of Brussels.



In reality, the Brexit talks are most likely to be conducted in French and English with simultaneous interpretation. Barnier, a former French EU commissioner who clashed with the City of London, speaks English but wants the right to negotiate in his native tongue.

English is also highly unlikely to disappear as a dominant language in the EU any time soon. Not only is it an official language for the Irish and Maltese governments, but many diplomats prefer to use English as a common second language rather than French.