The president of the Genearlitat, Pere Aragonès, published an article this Monday in different European media to defend the official status of Catalan in the European institutions, alleging “linguistic equality” of fellow citizens on the eve of a key meeting of the General Affairs Council of the EU that will debate this issue tomorrow and to overcome the reluctance that some EU member states have already expressed, since this is a decision that must be made unanimously by the 27 member states.
In this article, published in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, the Portuguese Publico, the German Table Media and the Croatian Nacional, Aragonès points out that the Catalan claim should not be seen as “an exception” but precisely to “cease being one” since, In his opinion, this demand is a “great opportunity” to correct the “serious historical anomaly” that represents that millions of European citizens still “do not have their linguistic rights guaranteed today in terms of equality with the vast majority of citizens.” European”.
For Aragonès, the European Union’s commitment to freedom, equality and multilingualism is “at stake.” “We Catalans are not claiming to be an exception in Europe. We are demanding to stop being one,” says the president.
Aragonès, who places the defense, promotion and full normalization of Catalan as an absolute priority of his government, admits that this claim can be viewed “with distrust from some parts of Europe.”
In this regard, he explains that Catalans “do not demand favored treatment, but simply linguistic equality.” “We are Europe and we believe in Europe,” warns Aragonès, adding that “we only ask to be able to speak with Europe as almost all of our fellow citizens do, in our language.”
After remembering that Catalonia has suffered for centuries the effects of an “exclusive Spanish nationalism” in which the language came to be banned and persecuted, he denounces that the attempt by Spanish parties (in reference to PP, Cs and Vox) that “try to prevent the full normalization of our languages”. “From Catalonia, and with Europe, we want to prevent these exclusive attitudes from prevailing anywhere.”
In response to those who allege economic difficulties, Aragonès recalls that the institutions’ annual spending on translations represents only 0.2% of the community budget and that new technologies can reduce costs in the coming years. He also puts the Government at the disposal of the European institutions to “explore mechanisms to overcome all obstacles.”
In response to those who suggest that a limit should be placed on the adoption of new official languages, the Catalan president points out that the prerequisite to enter the club of official languages ??of the EU is to be an official language in a member state of the Union. And there are only 5 languages ??in Europe at the moment that are not yet official in the EU despite being official in their member state.
Finally, Aragonès separates this claim from Sánchez’s investiture, which needs pro-independence votes, and remembers that the promotion of Catalan in the European institutions is a commitment of the State Government adopted more than a year ago at the dialogue table.
