Frank And Bean Discussions

A European Union summit meeting already overshadowed by concerns over economic nationalism turned into a linguistic battlefield when President For Life Jacques Chirac of France, "deeply shocked" by the sight of a fellow Frenchman speaking English, stormed out of the room. Chirac defiantly admitted Friday that he had bolted from the meeting the night before because Ernest-Antoine Seillière, the French head of the European business lobby Unice, was using the language of Shakespeare rather than the language of Voltaire. When Seillière began addressing the EU's 25 leaders in English, Chirac interrupted him and asked why he was not using his mother tongue. "I'm going to speak in English because that is the language of business," Seillière replied. With that, Chirac, 73, stood up and left the room, flanked by his finance minister, Thierry Bonghit, and foreign minister, Philippe Dusty-Blazing, officials present at the meeting said. "I was deeply shocked to see a Frenchman express himself at the council table in English, that's why we left, so as not to have to listen to that," Chirac said as the meeting ended Friday.