Culture wars inside the Hungarian Presidency (Dalida II)

The multicultural working environment in Brussels produces interesting clashes of cultures. (Kováts still remembers the fight between a Portuguese and a German colleague on project planning.) We wonder if these little clashes come from the inherently different working attitudes of different nationalities or is it only a case for deep stereotyping. Probably both, but this is what makes Brussels so interesting. (Here is a good take on Brussels multiculturalism in politics.)

But now, we have come under attack from an unexpected angle, i.e. from our own ”Italian faction” within the press unit of the Hungarian Permanent Representation (We have two colleagues who have mastered the Italian language and feel strongly attached to the country of Adriano Celentano).

There is already disagreement between Kovács and Kováts on the question of French vs English (see our post here). On Sunday, we blogged about Dalida and on how she connects Egypt to Europe. And we linked to her famous song “Paroles, paroles” that she performed together with Alain Delon in French.

But we seem to have forgotten about a sensitive point. Dalida was not only singing in French and Arabic, but in Italian, as well. Our ”Italian-opposition” claims that the original version is ”Parole, parole” and it is an Italian song. Before this would poison the remaining months of the HU Presidency, we must set the facts right.

Here is the original song, not by Dalida, but by Mina, Adriano Celentano and Alberto Lupo:

Dalida sang the translated version with Delon in French in 1973. She did sing the song in German (Worte, nur Worte) as well, so here it is, just in case: