There were many lingua francas of which French was supposedly the first global lingua franca. That changed and it became English (from what I understand). We will probably see another language become the lingua franca, so my question is: should it be English? Are there better candidates out there? Why / why not?
It depends on what Europe wants to be. The language is in some ways connected to the culture. Would Europe get a more Mediterranean savoir vivre if everybody spoke Spanish or French? I think so.
An ambitious and interesting option for Europe could be Arabic as the lingua franca. If Europe commits, other countries like Iran or India could also be interested in joining. That could create a huge area with a single language as long as it doesn’t splinter into dialects like the current Arabic.
This suggestion is at least original :p
But I think we should make our new lingua franca a generous gesture to the world: we should find some language only still spoken by one old woman in some remote village, give her a list of words to translate and have that be the basis for our new federal European conlingua franca!
Nobody in Europe wants Iran or India to join.
Also, most Iranians apeak Persian, not Arabic.
The point of speaking Arabic would be to have the same language as North Africa and Arabia. And once Europe speaks Arabic, neighboring countries like Turkye, Iran or Pakistan and India could see the benefit in joining.
This doesn’t mean that those countries become part of the EU. It would just create a huge zone with a single language which has its own advantages.
What exactly is the point? Most people in Europe speak at least a little English, a ton of people in India speak English, Arabic is completely alien to Europe. There is no advantage to Arabic over English.
The point is having a common language and thus economic and cultural advantages. English is a secondary language for most people. In the US, it’s probably replaced with Spanish.
With Arabic, you have many more primary language speakers. Thanks to immigration, the transition to Arabic can be made easy. Then it’s possible to sell products in one packaging from Portugal to India.
I am not arguing that this should happen. It’s just an opportunity that is not obvious because Arabic is not a traditional European language. Though I would assume that there are now more Arabic than Basque speakers.