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 renews pressure on its partners to support the initiative and does so by charging of legal and political arguments, by presenting linguistic diversity as part of “national identity.” The reform of the European regulation demanded by the Spanish Government “is not intended to create new rights” but rather to put an end to “an extraordinarily anomalous situation” in the linguistic context of the Union, states the memorandum sent today to the other 26 member states.
“This issue is a priority for Spain as part of the Spanish national identity and is inherent to our fundamental, political and constitutional structures,” states the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, in the letter accompanying the document. In it, the Government reiterates the specific characteristics of the Spanish case and reiterates that recognition “will not serve as a precedent for others.” “Linguistic diversity is part of the cultural wealth of our continent” and the EU treaty requires “respecting the national identity of the member states.” Linguistic diversity, the document continues, “is a key aspect of our national identity.”
Both Catalan, Basque 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 European partners that 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 co-official languages ??are used in the Spanish Parliament, in schools and universities and in judicial procedures, in addition to having extensive cultural production. They are spoken, he recalls, 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 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 Spanish case a unique situation (they are native languages, recognized in the Constitution, used in the national Parliament and to legislate in regional parliaments, into which the Lisbon Treaty has been translated and with a 10-year history of administrative use in the EU) as well as Spain’s commitment to assume the costs that its implementation entails for the institutions. Furthermore, it reiterates that there is a legal basis for the Council to modify the regulation on languages ??in the institutions. The Gaelic path, recognized as a “treaty language” in 1973 but which did not reach full official status until 2022, “is an example of the gradual increase in the presence of an official language of a member state in the EU,” he recalls. Spain.
Spain has asked the Belgian presidency of the Council to include the matter at the end of the meeting that the heads of General Affairs will hold on Monday in Brussels. However, it will be what is known in community jargon as an “information point” and no time has been planned for an in-depth debate. The Government’s purpose is to advance the debate and “resolve” any doubts that may exist in the different delegations with a view to a future vote. When? There is no date: “Votes are called to win them,” diplomatic sources reply. “The approach is positive and increasingly positive, we must continue working and presenting good arguments,” they insist.
