“We do not consider the possibility of not approving this official status of Catalan in Europe”, Catalan Minister of the Presidency Laura Vilagrà i Pons told the press on Wednesday.įaced with EU countries’ lukewarm stance, Vilagrà i Pons told EURACTIV that, though being “in permanent contact” with several governments, it is up to the Spanish authorities to rally the necessary support, which have a “commitment” to the task and now need to “rise to the occasion”. “There are many minority languages that are not official languages of the EU”, the Swedes argue. “Such a decision requires a careful process a decision in two weeks is really quite ambitious”, one of the diplomats said.Īnother shared concern remains that other minority languages could follow and seek the same official EU status. The rushed approach by the Spanish government is a common concern among member states, which seek to carefully understand the operational implications of the move – especially the costs – before forming a position, EURACTIV learned from three EU diplomats. “We believe that it needs to be investigated more thoroughly what the legal and financial consequences of the proposal are”, the Swedish government expressed in a statement. However, it seems EU countries are planning to slow down the process, with Sweden being the first country to publicly flag its concerns.
The EU Council Presidency, currently held by Spain, thus scheduled the debate and the adoption of a decision for a meeting next Tuesday. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares officially requested the EU Council to start the process of adding Catalan, Basque and Galician as EU official languages in August to secure enough support – especially from the Catalan independentist parties – to swear in Francina Armengol as Spain´s parliament chief, all in the context of negotiations to form a government.
European Union member states seek to study the financial and legal consequences of making Catalan, Basque, and Galician official EU languages, making it unlikely for the bloc to speedily reach a decision, as initially hoped for by Spain.
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