Claim: The Italian language is spoken in at least one country.

The languages of the European Union are languages used by people within the member states of the European Union -LRB- EU -RRB- .   The EU has 24 official languages , of which three -LRB- English , French and German -RRB- have the higher status of `` procedural '' languages of the European Commission -LRB- whereas the European Parliament accepts all official languages as working languages -RRB- . One language -LRB- Irish -RRB- previously had the lower status of `` treaty language '' before being upgraded to an official and working language in 2007 , although it has been temporarily derogated as a working language until 2021 due to difficulty finding qualified translators . The three procedural languages are those used in the day-to-day workings of the institutions of the EU . The designation of Irish as a `` treaty language '' meant that only core documents such as treaties must be fully translated into Irish , while all other translations and interpretations are performed on an ad hoc basis .   The EU asserts that it is in favour of linguistic diversity . This principle is enshrined in the EU Charter -LRB- art. 22 -RRB- and in the Treaty on European Union -LRB- art. 3 -LRB- 3 -RRB- TEU -RRB- .   In the European Union , language policy is the responsibility of member states and EU does not have a common language policy ; European Union institutions play a supporting role in this field , based on the principle of `` subsidiarity '' , they promote a European dimension in the member states ' language policies . The EU encourages all its citizens to be multilingual ; specifically , it encourages them to be able to speak two languages in addition to their native language . Though the EU has very limited influence in this area as the content of educational systems is the responsibility of individual member states , a number of EU funding programmes actively promote language learning and linguistic diversity .   The most widely spoken language in the EU is English , which is understood by 51 % of all adults , while German is the most widely used mother tongue , spoken by 18 % . All 24 official languages of the EU are accepted as working languages , but in practice only two -- English and French -- are in wide general use and of these English is the more commonly used . French is an official language in all three of the cities that are political centres of the Union : Brussels -LRB- Belgium -RRB- , Strasbourg -LRB- France -RRB- and Luxembourg City -LRB- Luxembourg -RRB- .