France, Italy, and Germany lobby the Brazilian government against the use of the Spanish language

The French Embassy in Brazil, along with the diplomatic missions of Italy and Germany, has successfully influenced the Brazilian Congress to remove the Spanish language from the secondary school curriculum.

The new curricula approved by the country's parliament a few days ago are now awaiting the signature of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Spanish as a second official language in Brazil could have serious consequences, warned Hélène Ducret, the education attaché at the French Embassy in Brazil.

"Spanish is chosen as a second language by 95% of Brazilians in schools, which harms other languages; therefore, we support multilingualism,” she added, referring to the study of English or French.

The German Embassy also emphasized that "Germany and Brazil are close partners" and have signed agreements to promote the German language as a foreign language in the country's schools.

"Learning German in Brazilian schools should always be an option for students, just as English is," said the German Embassy.

As a result of European lobbying, English now remains the only second official language in Brazil, allowing students to more easily choose it for study.