Pep Guardiola’s message addressed to the Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, for his country to approve the official status of Catalan in the European Union has not gone unnoticed. At least, among the main general and sports newspapers in the country that have echoed the Manchester City coach’s video in the last few hours.
The former soccer player also spoke this Saturday in English to Kristersson so that Sweden votes yes to making Catalan official on the 19th, within the framework of a campaign promoted by Plataforma per la Llengua.
In his video, which the organization has published with subtitles in Swedish, English and Catalan, Guardiola, former player and former coach of Barça, among other teams, explained to the Scandinavian president that Catalan is “an ancient language”, spoken by around ten million. of Europeans, a figure similar to that of Swedish speakers and assures that it is part of the “cultural heritage” of all Europeans.
Media such as Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet and Goteborgs-Posten have echoed Guardiola’s words. “Recognize my language”, has been one of the headlines that have stood out the most in the Swedish newspapers. A clear message in which the player directly questions the prime minister. “I ask Sweden to accept my language, Catalan, as the official language of the Union.”
Guardiola asks Kristersson to accept Catalan and for his country not to veto its recognition, after in recent days it has become public that Sweden, together with Finland, has raised reservations about the recognition of the official status of Catalan, Basque and the Galician that the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has requested from the Council of the EU.
The newspapers highlight that Pep Guardiola has been a faithful defender of his origins and culture, as well as the independence of Catalonia, and also remember that the last time the EU decided on a new official language was in 2013, when Croatian was recognized. .
