more time This is what prompted the 27 to study a proposal put forward by Spain to make Catalan, Galician and Basque official languages in the EU, joining the current 24, all of which have state status in their respective member states. The initiative, which is part of the agreement reached by the PSOE and the Junts, has not been criticized, so it will remain alive for some time that no one dares to do. The European partners have told the current government that they need a more comprehensive analysis of the legal and financial implications of the measure, which will be carried out in a working group with mandatory reports. The news that Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albarez has proposed is that the “alignment” starts with Catalonia. For its part, Carles Puigdemont’s party welcomed the “attempt” of the executive.
The initiative was not voted on by the Council of General Affairs (CAG), whose agenda for the government, as the next EU Presidency, included the proposal, review and amendment of EU Council Regulation 1/58, which regulates. official languages. “The president was able to verify that no one vetoed our proposal. No member state has vetoed our proposal. Some member states have asked for more time to analyze, develop and implement it. We agreed to continue working to respond and provide states’ comments on the Spanish proposal,” Albarez said at the end of the debate, which required unanimity out of 27 for its approval.
“In response to the comments of some member states about the cost of implementing this measure, Spain has shown its commitment to bear the costs,” reiterated the head of diplomacy, who admitted that some partners have difficulty in incorporating the three new languages. ”At once” so “transition periods and gradualness of this measure are proposed”. “We proposed to start its deployment first in Catalan and then in the following languages,” he said.
“We opened the fact that the language whose representatives most insisted on being included in the modification of the regulations, and which is spoken by more than 10 million people, is the first to be placed,” Albarez justifies regarding the inclusion of Catalonia. .
Government sources specify that three languages will be included in the regulation at the same time, but during the transitional period indicated by the minister, Catalan will be the first.
Among the doubts expressed by some European partners about the inclusion of the three languages is also the legal impact it could have on European “minority languages”, as explained by Swedish Minister Jessica Rosvall. Your country was the first to show its reluctance to the Spanish initiative, which was activated after the agreement reached by the PSOE with the Juntas for the presidency of the Congress. “We need to have more analysis of the proposal, both from a legal and financial point of view. “It’s very soon,” he said upon his arrival in Brussels.
Even more eloquent was Finland’s European Affairs Minister Anders Adlerkreutz, whose government he questioned and expressed them in Catalan to journalists. “I’m a big friend of Spanish languages,” he began in Spanish, before adding in the co-official language: “I’m a big friend of Catalan culture.” And then admit that it is “too early” to make a decision on this matter.
In a meeting with his European colleagues, Albarez used as an argument in favor of the official status of the languages ”already used in the Spanish Parliament”. In fact, they were used for the first time in parallel with the meeting in Brussels, after the agreement with the pro-independence forces with Francina Armengoli as president of the congress. “I had the opportunity to explain one by one the reasons for the Spanish proposal,” said Albares, who conveyed “the specifics that represent the Spanish case, unlike other EU countries where there are also regional languages.”
“These are not minority languages,” he answered the doubts that arise on the 27th because Catalan, Galician and Basque officials can open dozens of languages that are spoken in other countries and that also have recognition. in them. Albares recalled that Catalan has more speakers than some of the EU’s official languages, such as Maltese or the Baltic languages, which have much smaller populations, and insisted that it is among the 15 most spoken languages on the continent.
He also assured that this is not an “unpublished or recent proposal” considering that the first failed attempt was already made in 2005 with José Luis Rodríguez Zapateros. At that time, an intermediate solution was found, giving these three languages semi-official status so that citizens could apply to the European institutions in them. Citizens can apply to some institutions in these three languages. “Translations are provided by the government of the Member State concerned, if necessary and at its expense. Interpretation from (but not from) Basque, Catalan/Valencian/Balearic and Galician languages is provided on request for certain Council formations with regional representatives, as well as plenary meetings of the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee. . The cost of this interpretation will be borne by the given member state,” the European Commission said.
Younts acknowledges the government’s “effort”.
The session of the Council of Foreign Affairs was marked in red in both Montclois and Junt. For Carles Puigdemont’s party, recognition of the Catalan’s official status is key to negotiations over Pedro Sánchez’s investment. For now, the outcome of the meeting satisfies them and recognizes the “effort” of the government. Alberto Ortiz reports.
“Catalonia is closer to being officially in the EU, we recognize the effort,” said post-convergence MP Miriam Nogueras this Tuesday in Congress. “This is a process that has no turning back (…) we have arrived where we have never been before,” the parliamentarian insisted, in the first gesture from the Junts to the PSOE amid talks on the formation of a government.
In contrast, the BNG has criticized what it sees as “discrimination” against Galicia and the Basques. “There are no first languages and second languages,” MEP Ana Miranda said in a statement: “We hope to request a legal opinion on the consequences of the official status of Galician, Catalan and Basque and an analysis of its economic impact. There is no maneuver to proceed sine die its implementation”.
Source: El Diario
