Madam, - If the 450 million citizens of the new Europe were allowed to choose between the following two scenarios, which would they think would give most benefit?
Scenario A: they are allowed to decide whether to have a five-year president or keep the current rotation.
Scenario B: they are enabled to communicate as equals with one another, Finns with Spaniards, Welsh with Croats, as easily as we can now pay for a German taxi with our homely euros.
The language is here. There are Spaniards who can converse around a table with Croats, Finns and Welsh; some of them will be doing so in Göteborg, Sweden, next July. Many of us are doing it every day on the Internet. TV could bring this language into the living-rooms of every country at the same time.
As Umberto Eco said, the only objection to acceptance of a European language of communication, a language designed to be learnt with minimum effort, is the egotism of governments.
The Convention on the Future of Europe has used muzzy translation to evade mention of a shared language. - Yours, etc.,
MÁIRE MULLARNEY,
PRO, Esperanto-Asocio
de Irlando,
Dublin 14.