Germany has been one of the countries opposing the addition of more languages to the EU official roster, and as he explained his reasoning, Merz acknowledged Spain’s wishes to have its three co-official languages incorporated into the EU roster.
“I understand the position of the Spanish government and the Spanish Prime Minister with regard to the linguistic challenges here in Spain,” stated Merz.
“We Will Not Need Interpreters Anymore”
At the press conference, Merz offered a different vision that sidestepped the immediate political debate and spoke of linguistic seamlessness powered by AI tools that would eliminate the need for human interpreters.
Describing language services in the EU as “complicated,” Merz said that he believes that “there is a very good solution, even in the medium term. One day, with artificial intelligence, we will not need interpreters anymore. Then, we will all be able to hear, understand, and speak every language in the world in the European Union, right in our ears.”
This vision, effectively removing the multilingual communication challenge that currently stands in the way of linguistic equality in the EU, shifts the debate from a matter of political and financial feasibility to one of technological innovation.
While the Chancellor’s comments about an AI-driven future for language services in the EU provided a dramatic new angle to an old debate, his final words on the subject brought the conversation back to the present: he acknowledged that such a future is “still some time away” and that immediate discussions are necessary.
About the languages of Spain, specifically, Merz commented that he knows “how different these languages are. They are languages that, in some cases, are not mutually intelligible at all. So, I understand the request [to add the co-official languages] and how we can solve it.” There was no direct response to the Chancellor’s surprising statement from Sánchez, except that Spain remains committed to the language inclusivity it wishes to further in the EU.
