Three months after the last debate in Brussels on Spain’s request to recognize the official status of Catalan, Basque and Galician in the institutions of the European Union, the Government of Spain renews the pressure on the its partners to support the initiative and renews it by laden with legal and political arguments, presenting linguistic diversity as part of “national identity”. The reform of the European regulation demanded by the Spanish Government “does not aim to create new rights” but to put an end to “an extraordinarily anomalous situation” in the linguistic context of the Union, states the memorandum sent on Friday to the other twenty-six member states.
Both Catalan, Galician and Basque “have deep historical roots, a high number of speakers and a place in our Constitution in line with our highly decentralized system of autonomous communities”, underlines the document, which reminds partners Europeans that the Spanish public authorities have “the duty” to protect the linguistic rights of Spanish citizens “in all spheres, including the EU”. In this sense, remember that the co-official languages ??are used in the Spanish Parliament, in schools and universities and in judicial proceedings, in addition to having a wide cultural production. Remember, they are spoken by more than 20 million people in Spain.
The memorandum, which for the first time puts in a single document the arguments used by the Central Government to persuade the other EU countries in favor of the reform, which requires the unanimity of the Twenty-seven, details the characteristics that make the in the Spanish case a unique situation (they are native languages, recognized in the Constitution, which are used in the national Parliament and to legislate in the regional parliaments, into which the Treaty of Lisbon has been translated and with a ten-year history of use administrative in the EU) as well as Spain’s commitment to assume the costs that its implementation brings to the institutions. In addition, he reiterates that there is a legal basis for the Council to amend the regulations on languages ??in institutions.
Spain has asked the Belgian presidency of the Council to include the issue at the end of the meeting that the heads of General Affairs will hold on Monday in Brussels. It will be what in community jargon is known as an “informational point” and no time has been planned for an in-depth debate. The Spanish Government wants to advance the debate and “resolve” the doubts that may exist in the various delegations in the face of a future vote. when? There is no date: “Votings are called to win them”, reply diplomatic sources. “The approach is positive and increasingly positive, we need to continue working and presenting good arguments”, they insist.
