The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, telephoned yesterday the PNV spokesperson in Congress, Aitor Esteban, to assure him that the request for Basque, Catalan and Galician to be official in Europe is for “the three languages ??together”, thus correcting his statements a few hours earlier. The opinion expressed by the minister had caused anger among the Jeltzales and the Basque Government, to the point that the Lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu, expressed his discomfort and asked for “equal treatment” for the co-official languages.
Aitor Esteban himself made this call public last night, in an interview on Radio Euskadi, stressing that Albares had told him that the approved resolution “does not refer to that priority.” “He assures me that what is now opening is a period of legal examination of a single report with the three languages, and then we would move on to an implementation phase,” he said.
“The request and authorization is for the three languages ??together, and the examination by the European authorities is for the three languages ??together, that is what has assured me,” he added.
Shortly before, Lehendakari Urkullu had considered that the decision, of a “political nature”, had to do with the negotiation of the investiture of Pedro Sánchez and not so much with the justification expressed by Albares, who alluded to the number of speakers of the Catalan language. (around 10 million compared to around one million in the case of Basque) and the doubts expressed by some states regarding accepting three new languages ??at a time.
The Lehendakari pointed out that he did not like the Foreign Minister’s justification “at all” and revealed that the Basque Government transmitted by letter on Wednesday its concern that Basque has been relegated.
Urkullu believes that the minister “has set a priority” with the Catalan, “which rather gives the impression that it has a political overtone” in view of Pedro Sánchez’s investiture session, and not based on “the reality” of the equality in the demand for the presence of official languages ??in the EU.
“There is an opportunity for equal defense of all languages ??that are official in the State,” said Urkullu.
The Lehendakari, in any case, avoided linking his discomfort with the possibilities of the investiture.
