A new bill proposed by the Italian government would make it a criminal offense for Italians to use English or other foreign language expressions in official communications.
The bill was tabled by Fabio Rampelli, an MP of Giorgia Meloni‘s Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, and is supported by the prime minister herself. While the ban would apply to all foreign languages, it would specifically target “Anglomania,” the proliferation of English words, which the bill claims devalues and degrades the Italian language. Proponents of the bill also believe the use of English is no longer justified following Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union.
“It is not just a matter of fashion, as fashions pass, but Anglomania has repercussions for society as a whole,” the bill states.
The new legislation would require all public office holders to have a high, sophisticated command of written and spoken Italian, and would also ban companies from using English abbreviations or job titles.
Italian will become “mandatory for the promotion and use of public goods and services in the national territory,” and those found to have broken the rules could face fines of between €5,000 and €100,000.
The draft bill is the latest nationalist policy to be proposed by Italy’s right-wing government. Last week, another draft law seeking to ban Italian industry from producing laboratory-grown food and animal feed was approved by the government, as it vowed to protect the health of Italians and preserve the country’s cultural heritage.
