A Brief Look at Language Use within the European? Commission. The image of the tower of Babel is often evoked in reference to the European Union, especially but not only by the anti-EU British press. And there is some truth to that image, as the number of official languages within the EU has swelled to 23, and all official documents must be translated into all of these languages, creating the world?s largest translation service. The picture within the European Commission (EC), however, is somewhat different. English, French, and German are the three working languages of the Commission, but only French and English are ?drafting? languages, and German is used only infrequently. This article looks first at the impact of enlargement on the balance between English and French and then at the broader issue of language use in an international environment in which most people are working outside of their native languages.