This paper reports on the extent to which European recommendations for early language learning have been realised at national levels, drawing on evidence from a major transnational longitudinal study (ELLiE 2007-10). Evidence suggests that the encouragement to introduce languages from the start of schooling has overwhelmingly resulted in English first, with French and German positioned as increasingly minor alternative choices. Interestingly, the ELLiE study reveals some evidence of Spanish emerging as the ‘cool’ language for a new generation of learners, on only a limited scale at present, however.