EU considering official language status for Catalan, Basque and Galician

Luke James, Brussels

The Spanish government says it has made “great progress” towards making Catalan, Basque and Galician official languages of the European Union despite a final decision being delayed.

Spain’s minority socialist government agreed last summer to seek full official status – as opposed to co-official status granted to Welsh before Brexit – for the three languages spoken by around 13 million people as part of a deal with pro-independence parties on whose support it depends.

A first attempt to convince other member states to support the move was rebuffed last October when Spain held the presidency of the European Council, with some countries expressing concerns over the cost implications and whether it would set a precedent in other large member states with minority languages.

Brexit

Before Brexit, members of the European Parliament campaigned to make Welsh and Scots Gaelic official along with the three languages currently under consideration.

Official status would mean politicians could use the languages in any of the EU institutions, citizens would have the right to interest with the institutions through those languages and they would be used in the labelling of food and medicines.

There were fears that the end of Spain’s six month presidency would prevent further progress, but the Polish government which currently holds the role agreed to put the issue on the agenda of today’s meeting of national European affairs ministers in Brussels.

Following concerted lobbying by Spanish diplomats, there were genuine hopes at the beginning of the day that a decision could be taken today. But the decision was again postponed at the request of countries like Finland and Germany, which threatened to vote against the proposal if it was brought to a vote, sources in the room told Catalan newspaper Diari Ara.

The two countries are governed by parties in the same centre-right group as Spain’s opposition Partido Popular. Its leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who is himself a Galician speaker, has been accused of lobbying his European sister parties to oppose the measure.

Positive

However, ministers representing member states which had not previously spoken out in support of the proposal sounded notably more positive today. Danish Europe minister Marie Bjerre went the furthest, saying: “If it gets to a vote, we will vote yes.” French Europe minister Jean-Noël Barrot said: “I know this is a subject that is very important for our Spanish friends. We can find a solution.”

The Europe minister of Slovenia, which is the greatest supporter of the move in the European Council, said: “We are vocal in many meetings of the council before and today, if there is a vote, we will support.” But he added: “There are still concerns, there are legal concerns. There are financial concerns. There are sensitivities of some member states because of their languages in their countries.”

The European Commission has estimated the cost of having 30 rather than 27 official languages at an additional 130 million Euro, a price the Spanish government has said it will pay.

Cyprus is one of the member states which has held concerns the move could set a precedent for other languages to be official. Greek and Turkish are official languages of the island but only Greek is an official EU language.

Turkish

Asked about a potential push to make Turkish an official language, Cypriot European affairs minister Marilena Raouna said: “This is a different situation. But it is also important that this does not create a precedent. We have had that discussion with our Spanish colleagues. The proposal that is put on the table is a reflection of that discussion.”

Following the meeting, Spanish government spokesperson Pilar Alegría said only a “minority” of member states still had concerns. “Great progress had been made and there were a large number of states that were willing to support [the move],” she said.

“Other member states have asked for more information and Spain has accepted. The Spanish government wants that the plurilingual identity is recognised and respected and we will continue to work to achieve recognition.” As well as Germany and Finland, the Spanish government is to concentrate its lobbying efforts on Croatia, Italy, Sweden, Czechia and Austria.

The next possible occasion for the issue to be discussed is the EU’s General Affairs Council on June 24. The Spanish government is in a race against time to secure the support of pro-independence parties from Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia to pass its budget this autumn.

The Spanish socialists are in coalition government with left-wing Sumar, who together hold 147 of the 350 seats in the parliament’s lower house.

They need the cooperation of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya and Junts per Catalunya, who both hold seven seats, as well as EH BIldu and the PNB from the Basque Country, who hold six and five seats respectively, to form a government. The Galician National Party also holds one seat.

The Spanish government said opposition parties were conscious of the “sweat” it is putting into the campaign but Gabriel Rufián, the spokesperson for Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya in the Spanish parliament, sought to put pressure on them to deliver asking: “What influence does Spain have in Europe?” after today’s postponement.