Officially dead

Sniffy classicists, who have always looked down at the EU as a pale imitation of their beloved Roman Empire, will be delighted. Having pinched the Romans' idea of a single currency, the EU has now decided to embrace Latin, we are told. Finland, which is running the EU for the next six months, is to publish weekly news bulletins in Latin on its special EU presidency Web site.

Leaders of the Unio Europaea, who have had a wretched year grappling with the Constitutio Europaea, will be reaching for their dictionaries at their next shindig in Bruxellae.

The EU's notorious jargon, which baffles all but the saddest Brussels anoraks, turns into poetry when translated into Latin. The miserable Common Agricultural Policy becomes the majestic ratio communis agros colendi, which literally means "common scheme for cultivating the fields."

All I can say is, Tute hoc intristi.

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