France demands that its future leaders must speak English - Peter Allen, Paris

The ENA - National School of Administration - which counts Francois Hollane and Jacques Chirac among its alumni, has decided that from now on all its students must speak English

France's elite finishing school for future leaders is to make fluency in English an essential entry requirement for the first time

It follows generations of Gallic politicians and academics fighting a "war" against the global supremacy of the language of Shakespeare.

Now, the National School of Administration (ENA) in Strasbourg, has conceded that English is an essential tool.

A spokesman said all "énarques" – as ENA graduates including President Francois Hollande are called – needed fluent English "in order to cope with their future roles".

Another ENA graduate is Jacques Chirac, the former president, who, in 2006, pledged to stop the spread of English across the world, and especially in his own country.

"We fight for our language," said Mr Chirac, after leading a walkout from a European Union summit in Brussels after a French business leader spoke in English.

"I was profoundly shocked to see a Frenchman express himself in English at the table," said Mr Chirac, as he led a clampdown on words like "weekend", "parking" and "meeting".

Mr Chirac's successor, Nicolas Sarkozy, spoke just a few words of English when in office, and had to have a bilingual translator with him whenever he met a so-called "Anglo Saxon".

In January 2010, Mr Sarkozy said to the then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while standing in the rain, "sorry for the bad time" – a mistranslation of the French 'temps', for weather. 

Natalie Loiseau, ENA's director, confirmed that the reform of the entrance exam reflected a break with the past.

English is the world's third most spoken language, after Mandarin and Spanish, and is widely accepted as the language of business.  Read More at Telegraph

France demands that its future leaders must speak English