Half-Spanish electoral candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon lays down language law to BBC reporters: “English no; Spanish, yes”
Monday, April 24, 2017 @ 1:16 PM
LEFT-WING French electoral candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon refused to speak in English to the BBC during an interview, saying he would only converse in Spanish – the language of his grandparents.
Leader of the independent party La France Insoumise ('Unsubmissive France'), the politician stopped a British reporter mid-flow with: “English no; Spanish, yes.”
He later uploaded a video to YouTube in which he accuses the British of arrogance and 'imperialism'.
“They think the whole world should speak English,” Mélenchon complained, in Spanish.
“It's because they're intrinsically imperialist, they think they own the world – you give a press conference and you're expected to speak English.
“La France Insoumise isn't the only political outfit which refused to speak English with the BBC; a few years ago, Germany's deputy Chancellor Guido Westerwelle, when interviewed on home soil, pointed out, 'in the UK you speak English, but here in Germany we speak German',” Mélenchon continues.
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