Europe is one of the continents with the greatest linguistic richness in the world. This diversity is not only the result of geography, but the outcome of centuries of history, migrations, empires, cultural exchanges, and political transformations. Today, Europe’s linguistic diversity finds an institutional expression in the European Union, which officially recognizes 24 languages.

Although the EU has 27 Member States, the number of official languages is lower. This is because several countries share the same national language. German, for example, is an official language in both Germany and Austria; French in France, Belgium, and Luxembourg; Dutch in the Netherlands and Belgium. Each language is therefore counted only once, even if it is spoken in multiple countries.

Each Member State has the right to designate one or more official languages for use within the European institutions. This is the case for multilingual states such as Belgium (French, Dutch, and German), or Ireland and Malta, which have chosen to recognize English alongside their national languages. As a result, all European citizens have the right to communicate with EU institutions in their own official language and to receive a reply in the same language.

Alongside the official languages, however, there exists an even broader heritage: that of regional and minority languages. Catalan, Basque, Galician, Sardinian, Breton, and many others are spoken by millions of people, yet they do not have the status of official EU languages. In some cases, they enjoy special recognition and may be used in limited contexts, but they are not part of the EU’s official linguistic system.

From a practical perspective, in order to ensure the day-to-day functioning of its institutions, the EU also relies on certain “working languages,” primarily English, French, and German. English, in particular, continues to be widely used even after Brexit, due to its broad diffusion and practical utility.

Europe’s languages are not merely tools of communication, but expressions of cultural identity. The European Union’s commitment to protecting multilingualism reflects the idea that unity does not require uniformity. On the contrary, the coexistence of different languages represents one of the fundamental pillars of the European project.

The official languages recognized by the European Union are: Bulgarian, Czech, and Croatian; Danish, Estonian, and Finnish; French, Irish Gaelic, and Greek; English and Italian; Latvian and Lithuanian; Maltese and Dutch; Polish and Portuguese; Romanian, Slovak, and Slovenian; Spanish, Swedish, German, and Hungarian.