BRUSSELS, March 24: French President Jacques Chirac walked out of the first working session of the EU summit in protest on Thursday after the head of Europe’s employers’ association, a Frenchman, spoke in English.

When Ernest-Antoine Seilliere, head of Europe’s employers federation, started his speech to the EU’s 25 leaders, Mr Chirac interrupted and asked why he was speaking in English, according to a French official.

“I’m going to speak in English because that is the language of business,” replied Mr Seilliere, former chief of the French employers’ group MEDEF, which has been at odds with the government recently.

In a protest that sparked surprise among his EU counterparts, Mr Chirac stood up and left the session, taking Finance Minister Thierry Breton and Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy with him.

Mr Chirac, 73, an ardent defender of the Gallic tongue, and his ministers returned after Mr Seilliere finished his address.

Defending his exit at a press conference on Friday, President Chirac accused the French head of Europe’s employer union of piquing French pride by daring to speak in English.

An ardent defender of the French tongue, Mr Chirac said he had been ‘deeply shocked’ to hear English on the lips of the Frenchman.

“I was deeply shocked that a Frenchman would speak at the council table in English,” he told journalists.

“That’s the reason why the French delegation and myself left so as not to have to listen to that,” he added.

English has overtaken French as the European Union’s lingua franca, especially since it welcomed 10 new member states, mostly former Soviet communist bloc states in eastern Europe, in May 2004.

The two-day EU summit is focusing on economic reforms, with a special accent on energy, at a time when Mr Chirac’s administration is seen as protectionist in the face of foreign takeover attempts for French conglomerates.

Besides Mr Seilliere, EU leaders also heard from European Central Bank governor Jean-Claude Trichet, who is also from France, and the European Trade Union Confederation president Candido Mendez Rodriguez.

Mr Trichet caused his own flap when he spoke in English at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. This time he opted for his native tongue.

Just before the summit, at a meeting of business and labour leaders, Mr Seilliere lashed out at the apparent trend towards economic nationalism within the European Union, particularly in France where the government is resisting a takeover bid for the Suez group by Italy’s Enel.

“We’ve seen interventions in member states to limit market access,” he said, according to a text released by UNICE.

“European business leaders fear that uncompromising conceptions of national interest may have a domino effect of negative consequence on growth and employment.”

REACTION: Other European leaders shrugged off Mr Chirac’s attempt to defend French pride.

“Europe has other worries and it’s a waste of time to have responded to such questions,” said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who is usually a stout Francophile.

Taking a shot at Mr Seilliere, he added: “I cannot cease to be amazed that while our French friends invite us to speak French many of their top officials not in government are more than happy to speak in ‘approximative’ English.”

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, claiming not to have noticed Mr Chirac’s departure, tried to strike a light note about the incident, saying with a smile: “People do get up and go for all sorts of reasons.”

—AFP