In 1976 I gave up my career in BBC Television to work for Roy Jenkins in Brussels as his Head of Media. In professional terms I was to become "Poacher turned game-keeper" - at least for the time being. As Britain's only President of the European Commission, to date, the late Lord Jenkins certainly made his mark in Brussels and it was an honour and a great pleasure to work for him. He had a vision for Europe and for Britain's part in it and he was able to talk on a basis of real equality with Helmut Schmidt, then Germany's Chancellor, and Valery Giscard d'Estaing then France's President.

He did so in English. Roy Jenkins' French was not strong but this was not the reason. English had to be the lingua franca of the three men because it was the only language in which Helmut Schmidt and Valery Giscard d'Estaing could easily converse. As I said in the House of Lords in a debate following tributes to Lord Jenkins earlier this year these conversations enabled him to generate significant agreement between the French and German positions on a European Exchange Rate Mechanism. It was a demonstration of an Englishman, unusually perhaps, playing a positive and proactive role in European integration and being enabled to do so by the English Language!

Joining the Commission to work for Roy Jenkins I had to evidence command of two European languages. To start with this foxed me somewhat. I spoke German but what other European language? It took me a little time to recognize English as my other European language.

I remember vividly attending an early working meeting between the Commission and Information Officers of the Permanent Delegations. An Italian was in the Chair and he used French as the language of the meeting. Simultaneous translation was not available. He went round the table asking for everyone's opinion. When he came to me everyone had replied in French but I did not feel qualified to do so. To have spoken in German would have seemed odd so I spoke in English. This seemed to surprise and perhaps irritate the Chairman but was greeted with great relief by the Irishman sitting next to me. "Sweet Jesus, I'm glad you did that" he whispered and then proceeded to speak English himself. So too did the Dutchman. So also did the German. As a working language of the Commission, English had clearly arrived!

However at that time French was overwhelming the main working language of the European Institutions. Today the situation we are told is very different. French is still a vital language for the European Institutions, but so too is English. It is even calculated that some 70% of communications between the Institutions and between the Institutions and the outside world now take place in English.

Why the change? If English is becoming of such fundamental importance as a language of diplomacy, does this result from hard negotiations on the language balance within the Union? I think not. The current importance of English stems above all from its role as the working language of the global village, the lingua franca of globalization.

The extent to which this is now fact is startling. There are more people in China learning English than speaking it in North America - over 200 million. English if the official language of a third of the world's population and a working language for half the world's population. Of the world's four most numerous languages, Chinese, Hindi, Arabic and English, the latter owes its position uniquely to its use as a second language. A part of this pattern is the increasing reach of English in continental Europe where 91% of all secondary schools teach English and 65% of young continental Europeans claim to speak English "reasonably well".

How has this happened? There are many reasons and they are accumulative. There has been the impact of the British Diaspora - English speaking people from the British Isles traveling and emigrating to countries across the globe over centuries. Then there is the rise of the United States, a continent as well as a country, deliberately acting as a magnet for immigration bringing millions from many lands, many of them non-English speaking into an English speaking world. In the history of the English language Ellis Island plays a dynamic part.

Second there is the fact that in two World Wars and in the outcome of the Cold War the English language has been associated with the causes that have ultimately succeeded - democracy and capitalism. It may seem unnecessarily blunt, even politically incorrect, to make the point but it must surely be a fact that today's pre -eminence of English as a lingua franca would not have occurred if Hitler had won the Second World War or Stalin the Cold War.

Third, English has become and seems set to continue as the leading language of science. More than 70% of all scientific thesis are now published in English and it is the predominant language of Information Technology, the Internet, International Transport, International Entertainment and International Business.

Now all of this could have two very unfortunate and undiplomatic consequences. English could be resented as a destroyer of cultural diversity and identity, a linguistic lowest common denominator encouraging a dumbing down of communication. Its dominance could also be used as an excuse by native English speakers for never learning a foreign language and thus depriving themselves of all the richness and opportunity that a second language can bring.

As International Chairman of the English Speaking Union I have to be aware of both these dangers. The ESU has expanded dramatically in recent years responding to the urgent desire of so many to establish ESU branches, especially in Russia, East and Central Europe, Africa and Asia. In this year alone new ESU's have been established in the Lebanon, Madagascar and Mongolia. In all the ESU is now active in 53 countries world-wide. The aim however is not to promote a mono-lingual world culture but to recognize that uniquely English has become a means of universal communication, valuable and valued in a volatile world at a dangerous time.

Earlier this year the ESU celebrated its 85th Anniversary at a service in Westminster Abbey. The West Indian Poet John Agard wrote this poem especially for the service:

Out of a scattering of tongues Out of Babel's inheritance how reassemble sense from this gift of rich confusion? how resurrect a rainbow from a tower of ruins? How begin to begin the dance of utterance? So armed with my hybrid dictionary - not so concise Oxford - I face the wilderness of the Word, letting English be my bridge to a world harvest - a gathering from continents retracing empire's footsteps seeing this time not global glory but dialogue in the distance

Speaking during the service in the Abbey I emphasized that in Agard's memorable phrase the objective now is not global glory but dialogue.

I then went on to explain the following:
I said "One of the men who most influenced me was a Frenchman - Jean Monnet - the key post war architect of European Unity. In 1973 as a BBC interviewer I presented a documentary on his life. In conversation at his house at Houjarray outside Paris, he said this on camera -

"we need to change the psychology of Europe. We need to end the spirit of dominance, replacing it with a spirit of equality and shared interest".

Since 9.11 it has become clear that what Jean Monnet brilliantly identified as the key challenge for Europe after two World Wars is today an imperative for the whole world.

It is our opportunity and obligation to offer English to a volatile world at a dangerous time - not as a means of dominance but as a uniquely universal means of understanding - shared not owned - not for "global glory", but for a dialogue that can reap a "world harvest".

English then is not about dominance but about dialogue. And what about using the prevalence of English as an excuse for not learning other languages? Well, I am committed to improving my French in the next few years as my bridge to a culture I love and a country I admire, and I am keeping up my German too!

Lord Alan Watson
International Chairman of the English Speaking Union