IT has struck many Bulgarians as odd, if not infuriating, that Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg chose to make his formal speech at the country's signing of the European Union accession treaty in a language other than Bulgarian.
It may seem a small issue, but the question of language is one redolent with symbolism. The EU, and the very treaty signed by Bulgaria and all other parties to it on April 25, acknowledges the importance of the language rights of its member and candidate member states.
Bulgarian is being acknowledged as an EU language. The treaty was translated into it, as will be all future EU documents.
Perhaps Saxe-Coburg chose French as a gesture of courtesy to Luxembourg, for it is one of the languages spoken in the state that currently holds the presidency of the EU. Yet his Romanian counterpart, after a brief courtesy greeting in English, continued in Romanian. Unfortunately, the symbolic message of Saxe-Coburg's decision may be read as reinforcing the notion that Bulgaria is a second-class state within the wider Europe. The issue is not about whether he should have used English or French or any other language as a matter of practicality; the issue is about the need to have courteously but firmly affirmed the status of the language of the country - as the Romanian prime minister did.
In all, it was an odd move by Saxe-Coburg, and one, going by media and public reaction after the signing, that reinforced his image as foreign to Bulgaria.
It may also be added that it was a move laden with unintended irony, given that Bulgaria requires those who want permanent residence in, and citizenship of, this country to be able to speak Bulgarian.