English-speaking Europe consists of four nations (England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) three former British colonies (Cyprus, Malta and the Republic of Ireland) and a current British colony Gibraltar, plus the Crown dependencies. There are also major pockets of native English speakers to be found throughout Europe, such as in southern Spain and The Netherlands. English is the most widely used language not only in anglophone countries, but within all European union. Therefore some linguistics experts are promoting the concept of English as a lingua franca for Europe, known by the abbreviation ELFE, which would accommodate the difficulties in pronunciation and grammar of adult students throughout Europe by essentially splitting the difference, for a lingua franca is meant for mere communication, not literature. According to a Eurobarometer survey of 2001, 47% of the citizens of the (15-states) Union speak English well enough to hold a conversation. Such a European language would not favor the pronunciation or usage either of British English or American English. Hence native speakers would not be necessary to teach it to Europeans, and it could be taught more quickly. Some day there may even be an International Standards Organization (ISO) prescription for the English language so used.

English as a lingua franca has already an exact term - Euro-English (or Euroenglish). That means English translations of European concepts that are not native to English-speaking countries. Due to the United Kingdom's involvement in the European Union, the usage focuses on non-British concepts. It also refers to dialects of English spoken by Europeans for whom English is not their first language, especially since English is frequently used by Europeans to communicate even when neither of them know English as the first language. (For example, a French person who doesn't know Italian and a Italian who doesn't know French, but both of whom know English, would use English to communicate with one another, even though it is not the native language of either of them.)

Euro-English is also the subject of a joke circulating on the Internet, whereby the European Commission has decided on English as a preferred language, the British government agreeing to modify the English language in turn (see the annex).

The European Union or EU is a supranational organisation of European countries, which currently has 25 member states. The Union was established under that name by the Treaty on European Union (commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty) in 1992. The European Union is the most powerful regional organisation in existence. In certain areas where member states have transferred a degree of sovereignty to the Union the EU begins to resemble a federation or confederation. The EU has no official capital and its institutions are divided between several cities: Brussels, Strassbourg and Luxembourg.

People within the member states of the European Union use many different languages. They include a number of languages that are official languages of the European Union's institutions, plus many others.EU policy is to encourage all its citizens to be multilingual; specifically, it encourages them to be able to speak two languages in addition to their mother tongue. The reason for this is not only to promote easier communication between Europeans, but also to encourage greater tolerance and respect for diversity. A number of EU funding programmes actively promote language learning and linguistic diversity. The content of educational systems remains the responsibility of individual Member States.