I was born in Belgium but grew up in Zurich/Switzerland. My parents only ever spoke French to me and my (younger) sister, so we were both really lucky to grow up bilingual French/German. I’d say that I have very much a French culture as I grew up with French nursery rhymes, French music and virtually all my school holidays were spent in my mum’s family in Liege/Belgium.
Speech given by Véronique Martin at the European Parliament on Wednesday 10th October 2018 in Brussels
After two horrific world wars, that decimated both my country and my family I was brought up with a deep love for the European Peace Project. I grew up to become a real anglophile and arrived in Britain at the age of 20 with the very first Erasmus exchange in 1984.