<P> In 1814, Malta became part of the British Empire, under the terms of the Treaty of Vienna . Prior to the arrival of the British, the language of the educated Maltese elite had been Italian, and all legal statutes, taxation, education and clerical discourses were conducted either in Italian or in Latin . </P> <P> However, this was increasingly downgraded by the increased use of English . The British began scripting and codifying Maltese--hitherto an unscripted vernacular--as a language in or around 1868 . From this point on, the Maltese language gradually gained currency as the main language on the islands, its grammars and conventions evolving in a mix between Italian, Arabic and English . </P> <P> Between the 1870s and 1930s, Malta had three official languages, Italian, Maltese and English, but in 1934, English and Maltese were declared the sole official languages . The British associated Italian with the Benito Mussolini regime in Italy, which had made territorial claims on the islands, although the use of Italian by nationalists was more out of cultural affinities with Italy than any sympathy with Italian Fascism . With the outbreak of World War II, the Maltese lost their sense of fraternity with the Italian world, and there was a decline in Italian spoken in Malta . </P> <P> English remains an official language in Malta, but since independence in 1964, the country's cultural and commercial links with Italy have strengthened, owing to proximity . Italian television is widely received in Malta and is highly popular . </P>

Which are the english speaking countries in europe