i was watching the Olympics opening ceremony in London, and when they did public announcements, they always did french first, then English.
a quick wiki search finds
"French remains one of the most important diplomatic languages,[6] with the language being one of the working languages of NATO, the International Olympic Committee, the UN Secretariat, the Council of Europe, the International Court of Justice, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Organization of American States, European Commission, theEurovision Song Contest the European Space Agency, World Trade Organisation and the North American Free Trade Agreement. It is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross, Amnesty International, Médecins sans Frontières, or Médecins du Monde.[51]"
so i guess my point is that, they have a reason to be cocky...