The acting central government of Pedro Sánchez is prepared to stand up to the European Union for the incorporation of Catalan, Basque and Galician as official languages ??and in the face of the doubts expressed by countries such as Sweden and Finland, which have warned of the financial consequences of the proposal, has offered that it is Spain that assumes the cost of the use of these co-official languages.
The offer took place yesterday in a debate of ambassadors in order to prepare the meeting of the Council of General Affairs that will be held on Tuesday in Brussels, and in which the ministers will discuss the Spanish proposal to incorporate their languages co-officials in the linguistic regulations of the Union.
At yesterday’s diplomatic meeting, a large majority of countries expressed their support for multilingualism as a bridge to connect with citizens and showed understanding towards Spain’s interests, but they also raised many “doubts” regarding the impact of the measure both on the operation of the EU and on the community coffers.
Among the issues on which more information was requested from Spain, there is what would be the estimated cost of adding these three co-official languages ??to the twenty-four already recognized in the EU language regulations or how it plans to cover the number of translators and interpreters that would be needed.
The Spanish Government, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the Union, introduced in the agenda of the meeting on Tuesday the 19th of the European ministers an exchange of opinions to modify the regulation on official languages, with the intention that the matter be put to the vote that same day.
For the Spanish proposal to go ahead, the support of all countries is needed, and the doubts raised at yesterday’s diplomatic meeting predict difficulties in the face of unanimous support. However, it is not ruled out that eventually a consensus formula can be found that everyone ends up accepting.
For now, the ambassadors have asked Spain for an opinion from the Council’s legal services and more time to study the economic and political impact of their proposal.
Among the issues pointed out by some diplomats consulted, there is the fact that it is difficult to share the “sense of urgency” that Spain communicates to its partners. They see it as premature to make a decision on this issue if the issues on which the Spanish Government will have to provide details have not been thoroughly examined.
Some delegations also have doubts about the legal fit in the EU treaties, although Spain defends that the officiality of Catalan, Basque and Galician is recognized by its Constitution. And it also alleges the incorporation of these co-official languages ??in the Congress of Deputies, in which they can be used like Spanish.
The Spanish Government has been holding talks for weeks to move forward with its proposal. Bringing Catalan to the EU was one of the conditions set by Junts after the 23-J elections for support for the PSOE. The party of Carles Puigdemont demanded guarantees of compliance and on the same day that the Bureau of Congress was constituted, on August 17, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, requested the EU to modify of the language regulation.
From that moment on, the Spanish Government stepped on the accelerator. However, this week he received two buckets of cold water almost consecutively.
The Government of Sweden was the first to officially highlight its reluctance to add three new languages ??to the current list of twenty-four official EU languages. Yesterday, the Government of Finland also confirmed its reservations about the Spanish proposal. Neither Sweden nor Finland have said they oppose the measure, but for their governments, both conservative, to express such reluctance could trigger a snowball effect that would complicate the future of the Spanish proposal. So far it hasn’t been like that.
The Finnish prime minister, the conservative Petteri Orpo, has been in power since June thanks to an agreement with the far-right and two other minority parties: the Christian Democrats and the Swedish People’s Party of Finland (RKP). As for the Government of the Prime Minister of Sweden, Ulf Kristersson, it is a coalition of conservatives, Christian Democrats and liberals with the external support of the ultra Democrats of Sweden.
In a statement released yesterday, the Government of Helsinki considers that adding new official languages ??would involve financial and administrative burdens and there are other simpler ways to promote issues relating to minority languages.
This has been agreed by a committee dedicated to EU issues and headed by the Finnish prime minister, the conservative Petteri Orpo, who warns that expanding the number of official languages ??can slow down decision-making in the community and delay entry into force of future regulations.
Helsinki makes it clear that it is in favor of promoting cultural and linguistic diversity within the EU, but points out that it does not believe that the Spanish proposal is the best way to do it.
These are similar arguments to those defended by Sweden. The Minister of European Affairs, Jessika Roswall, pointed out that her Government is “undecided” about the possibility of expanding the EU’s language regulations and wants to examine “in more depth” the “legal and financial” consequences of the proposal . Roswall stated that “there are many minority languages ??that are not official within the European Union”.
