The Government is asking the European Parliament for a “new impetus” for the use of Catalan, Basque and Galician in the institution. On the occasion of the beginning of the new legislature, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, sent a letter to the President, Roberta Metsola, in which he asks her to address this issue “personally” and transfer it to the Table of the European Parliament, streamlining the administrative agreement signed years ago to allow the use of these co-official languages in the institution.
“This is a priority issue for my country and an essential element of Spanish identity,” the minister says in the letter sent to the Maltese, in which he recalls that more than 20 million people live in territories where official status is recognized to Catalan, Basque and Galician. “The use of languages by a significant part of Spanish and European citizens in the European Parliament is of great importance,” Albares says.
Among the arguments that the head of diplomacy uses to demand that the request that the government reiterated last summer in the framework of the negotiations with Junts and ERC for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez be supported, there are those that he defended within the EU: that they are languages recognized constitutionally and that are also used in Congress and the Senate, or that there are already administrative agreements so that these languages can be used in the EU institutions, even if they are not official.
“I would appreciate it if you could personally address the possibility of submitting the decision to the Bureau of the European Parliament,” concludes Albares’ letter. The intention of the socialists is that Vice-President Javi López (PSC) facilitates the path.
The inclusion of Catalan, Basque and Galician as official languages of the EU is one of the government’s promises to the pro-independence forces. However, the path is different in the European Parliament, where it would require the political approval of the parliamentary groups, and in the rest of the institutions. The measure requires unanimity of the member states and is far from being realized due to the reluctance of some countries to open the door to this claim of other minority languages.
Currently, the issue is in the drawers of the EU Council until Spain makes a proposal “compatible with the treaties” and involves an impact analysis from the administrative (human resources), legal and financial points of view.
