The Telegragh reports: "The European Parliament has banned the terms 'Miss' and 'Mrs' in case they offend female MEPs. The politically correct rules also mean a ban on Continental titles, such as Madame and Mademoiselle, Frau and Fraulein and Senora and Senorita."
According to a Guidance issued in a new 'Gender-Neutral Language' booklet which has been circulated by Harold Romer, the parliament's secretary general, to all the MEPs, the politicians should address female members solely by their full name.
The following terms for the professions should no longer be used by the MEPs, too: sportsmen, firemen, air hostesses, headmasters, policemen, salesmen, manageresses, cinema usherette, male nurse.
Struan Stevenson has described the guidelines as "political correctness gone mad." Philip Bradbourn has described the booklet as a "waste of taxpayers' money." Read the article here.
Roger Helmer, Christopher Heaton-Harris and Martin Callanan have tabled a written declaration calling for the new ‘Gender-Neutral Language’ booklet to be withdrawn.
Moreover, they also asked how much money was spent on such “unnecessary” booklet.
The written declaration states that the European Parliament should be “mindful to show due respect for our national languages which have given us classics such as those of Shakespeare and Dumas and to embrace their diversity of vocabulary rather than seek to curtail it.”