EEAS’s blind spot? The lack of non-EU language skills

What makes a good diplomat? 

Most people would probably say foreign policy experience, networking skills, being able to cultivate relationships, the ability to handle sensitive issues, knowledge of their host country and proficiency in the local language. 

Can one truly know a country if one cannot speak and understand the local language? How can you build relationships with national and regional politicians, listen to small business owners, read local media, listen to local radio, learn from local activists or get the gossip from taxi drivers?

If you remain in an English-speaking expat bubble, are you really doing your job of being the eyes and ears on the ground on behalf of your capital back home?

From CVs and videos posted online by the EEAS, the EU’s diplomatic service, it seems that many of the EU ambassadors in key postings around the world, each crucial to European interests, do not speak the language of their hosts.

Given that some of them are already several years in the post and would have access to high-level private language training; this is quite a worrying indication of our diplomatic effectiveness.

But what about the EEAS delegation staff based around the world, supporting the EU ambassadors, how many of them speak non-EU languages?

In response to my recent parliamentary question, the EEAS stated it “doesn’t collect data about the level of knowledge of non-EU languages by its staff” — which is an interesting management approach for a global diplomatic service.

They confirmed that out of the over 6,000 delegation staff, just 94 staff took language training in Arabic, Chinese-Mandarin, Indonesian-Bahasa, Russian, Swahili or Turkish in 2024.

There is no data on how many have finished their training or are fluent.

I also asked about major world languages like Urdu, Farsi and Hindi, but it seems nobody took courses in these languages in recent years.

In his 2022 speech to the annual gathering of EU ambassadors in Brussels, former EU high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, caused a stir when he scolded them by saying: ”I want to be informed by you, not by the press. Sometimes, I knew more of what was happening somewhere by reading the newspapers than by reading your reports.”

With a focus on the importance of communication in diplomacy, he continued: “The first problem is that we speak English but a lot of people around the world do not speak English.... We still have a 'reflex' of European culture: we speak our languages, and we expect the rest of the world to understand us.”

As chair of the development committee and co-chair of the democracy support and election coordination group in the European Parliament, I have met only dedicated and talented EEAS ambassadors and staff, who are a valuable support to me and my colleagues.

However, European legislators and policy makers at EU and national levels depend on the EEAS to be diplomats in tune with local dynamics, sensitivities and feelings.

Most EU officials do have extremely impressive language skills, but due to the EU staff regulations, they are incentivised to learn only EU languages.

This might be sufficient for EU-based roles, but not for our diplomats around the world, especially given the troubling geopolitical situation Europe finds itself in nowadays.

The new EEAS secretary general, Belén Martínez Carbonell, who I recently met, can take inspiration from some EU ambassadors who are leading by example.

The EU ambassador to Saudi Arabia and the EU ambassador to Egypt both speak Arabic, and the EU ambassador to Brazil, Marian Schuegraf, not only speaks pretty good Portuguese but also German, English, French, Spanish, Hindi, Farsi and Amharic, the most widely spoken language in Ethiopia, where she was once based.

Now that is what I call diplomatic skills.

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