For centuries France has held out against the dull language of 'les rosbifs' just across the Channel. But now the country's future leaders have been told they must master English – a dramatic climbdown for a nation that has tried to ban words such as 'le weekend' from encroaching on its precious vocabulary. ENA, the elite National School of Administration in Strasbourg, which produces the French governing class, is to make mastery of English a compulsory rule of entry from 2018. Nathalie Loiseau, director of the elite National School of Administration in Strasbourg, which produces the French governing class, has said the school will make mastery of English a compulsory rule of entry from 2018
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National School of Administration is making English fluency a requirement
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From 2018 it will be a rule of entry for school producing French ruling class
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Defies traditionalists including former French President Jacques Chirac
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In 2006 he pledged to stop the spread of English language internationally
'I was profoundly shocked to see a Frenchman express himself in @placeholder,' said Mr Chirac.