The European Commission have imposed a ban on the word "Brexit" from all official communications and are instead encouraging staff to use the wording "British situation" instead.
The censorship of the word "Brexit" has come at a crucial time in the heated UK referendum debate, with fresh figures emerging on Friday (June 10) that a British exit from the EU would bring about US$18 billion in cuts. Adding to this, the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble said that he's ruled out Britain from accessing the single market.
The EU refers to us as the 'British situation'. #Brexit https://t.co/gVhvmFR1cV
— (((PAULUM))) (@Paullynch46Paul) June 8, 2016
The "B" word is still being used in internal communications however, whilst officials have stopped using it at press conferences.
The ban does not apply to commissioners, however EC president Jean-Claude Juncker avoided using the term at the G7 summit in Japan recently.
According to an email that was leaked to Politico, the EC has issued an official document on what acceptable wording and term use.
Can the terms Brexit and Bremain be banned as of NOW?…
— JamieRadio (@jamieradio) June 6, 2016
I'm getting a bit sick and tired with it all now!#MiniRant
A memo on the Commission's "Line to Take" was emailed to all officials in the EU.
The document states that it is "for the British people to decide if they want the UK to remain a member of the European Union." There was also a statement within the document which suggested that the EC had no actual plan B, if the UK decided to leave the EU.
"The Commission does not want to enter into the details of plan B, because we do not have a plan B, we have a plan A: Britain should stay in the European Union as a constructive and active member of the EU," read a line from the EC memo.
The full statement can be read here.
