Chapter 10. Dynamics of multilingualism in post-Enlargement EU institutions

In our chapter, we present a multilevel approach to multilingualism in the European Union (i.e. EU) Institutions. We explore the diversity of the Union’s institutional language regimes and regulations from the point of view of their perceptions, conceptions and practices. We juxtapose the EU-relevant language ideologies (perceptions, conceptions) with the ways in which multilingualism is de facto regulated and practiced in the Union’s institutional spaces. In this way, we observe how multilingualism in the EU institutions changes and how, inculcated in the process of the Union’s ongoing change, it quickly becomes one of the key facets of the transformation of Europe’s supranational polity. Our research provides a differentiated and critical perspective on how language ideologies related to multilingualism are conceptualised in EU language policies, in the Union’s supranational institutional contexts as well as in communication between EU institutions and Europe’s national milieus (national public spheres, EU member states). The key findings in all areas of our research point to the lack of coherent multilingualism policies in the EU as a multilevel system of governance. Our work also emphasises the need for further multilevel studies on internal and external aspects of EU-institutional multilingualism in order to set foundations for an ongoing academic reflection on the future shape of the EU as a space of political and organisational practice based on open and inclusive multilingualism.