Iron Duke, Paul Rice, MH and all others mentioning the D-word,
Let's not confuse things here. It is perfectly legal for a company to decide on which criteria they use to select candidates (including employment history, training and language skills), provided they comply with the prohibition of discrimination. Allow me to explain:
Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) forbids discrimination based on sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status with respect to rights under the Convention. These are not infringed by not offering you a job or denying access to a selection process based on the fact that you don't speak a certain language or have a specific training/employment history. It would be illegal for a company not to consider you as a candidate based on the fact that you do speak a certain language or have a certain training/employment background.
The right to live and work in any country in the EU is therefore not affected by asking for the ability to speak a certain language (you are free to learn it). IMHO it would be more appropriate to blame the UK government or education system for not stimulating it's citizens to speak more than only English.
Back on topic: the BA requirements for military pilots to meet are pretty stringent and will result in only few candidates. Then again: a good military pilot does not necessarily make a good commercial pilot...
Last edited by Longhitter; 2nd Apr 2011 at 13:14.