Spain. The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asks Poland for help in recognizing Catalan, Basque and Galician as an official EU language

According to the Catalan daily “La Vanguardia”, citing sources in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Albares wrote a letter to Radosław Sikorskiin which it calls on Poland to take up this issue during the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which starts on January 1.

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The head of Spanish diplomacy also addressed the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Deputy Prime Minister Italian Antonio Tajani and to the head of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.

The idea of ​​language changes was presented during the Spanish Presidency in the second half of 2023. The government in Madrid declares that it will bear the costs of implementing this idea, recalling that these languages ​​are recognized by the constitution. Spain and are working languages ​​in parliament.

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The Spanish government's initiative resulted from commitments to Carles Puigdemont's separatist Together for Catalonia (Junts) party made in exchange for support for the appointment of Pedro Sanchez's government in November 2023. Albares' latest actions coincided with Junts criticizing Sanchez, which called on the prime minister to submit to a confidence vote.

Various estimates say that Catalan, Basque and Galician are spoken by a total of approximately 15 million people, mainly in Spain.

Currently, there are 24 official languages ​​in the European Union, which are also working languages. Changes to the regulations require the consent of all member states, and some oppose the idea, among other reasons because of the costs and the precedent for other EU countries.

Recognizing Catalan, Basque and Galician as official languages ​​of the European Union would mean the need to translate into these languages ​​not only the treaties and current documentation and legal acts, but also the entire “legacy of the European project” of the last 65 years: directives, regulations and institutional agreements – he wrote in 2023 year “El Mundo” daily.