Luis Miguel Bueno, the European Union’s (EU) Arabic-speaking regional media officer for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), finds himself at the center of a firestorm following a provocative social media post made on International Mother Language Day {snip} Bueno’s post asserts that Arabic is a “European language” spoken by millions of Europeans daily, which has reignited debates surrounding the contentious “Great Replacement” theory.

In his post, Bueno stated, “At #اليوم_الدولي_للغة_الأم, it is good to remember that we have great linguistic diversity in the EU. 24 official languages—hundreds of languages ​​across the continent. We must also remind ourselves that the Arabic language is also a European language. Millions of Europeans speak this language every day. This is something we should be proud of.”

{snip}