French purists have never taken kindly to having English thrust upon them, and some have seized upon Brexit as a chance to rid themselves of Shakespeare’s language — at least at EU HQs. The shock of the decision across the Channel to break with the European Union had barely begun to sink in when two French politicians demanded that Britain, before shutting the door, take its language along with it. “The English language no longer has any legitimacy in Brussels,” tweeted mayor of the southern town of Beziers, Robert Menard.