The Government promotes a European campaign in favor of the official status of Catalan in the EU

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“If all languages ??are exceptional, let none be an exception in Europe.” This is the motto of the advertising campaign that the Government of the Generalitat has launched in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) to defend the official status of Catalan in the European institutions. The initiative is in praise of linguistic diversity and is aimed at speakers of the 24 official languages ??of the EU to present Catalan as the next one.

The campaign is disseminated on public roads and in the media in all Member States. The first advertisement has been installed in Brussels, on the screens of the Schuman, Arts Loi/Kunst-Wet and Trône/Troon metro stops, in the heart of the European institutions.

The main element of the campaign are 24 videos – one for each official EU language – which the Government offers to any person or institution wishing to use them to promote and defend their own language. The Catalan executive has versioned the campaign in German, English, Bulgarian, Spanish, Croatian, Danish, Slovak, Slovenian, Estonian, Finnish, French, Gaelic, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Swedish and Czech.

With this initiative, the Government conveys to European public opinion the main arguments in favor of the official status of Catalan. “We want European citizens to know the demand for the official status of Catalan in Europe and to experience it positively and with empathy,” says the Minister of the Department of Foreign Affairs and European Union, Meritxell Serret i Aleu. The campaign also includes the publication of an advertisement in the European press and in advertising spaces and street marquees.

Both the video and the advertising poster direct viewers to the website europaencatala.eu, in which the Government presents the main reasons in favor of the official status of Catalan in the European institutions.

The campaign can now be seen in public spaces, media and social networks in the 27 member states. The first advertisements have been placed in the metro stations of the European quarter of Brussels, but they can also be seen on the streets of Paris, Strasbourg, Rome, Dublin or Berlin.

The ads have appeared in dozens of newspapers and digital media across the continent, from Finland (Helsingin Sanomat and Hufvudstadsbladet) to Cyprus (Phileleftheros) through Sweden (Svenska Dagbladet and Dagens Nyheter), Denmark (Politik and Berlingske), Ireland ( The Irish Times), Poland (Wprost), Bulgaria (24 Chasa), the Czech Republic (Lidové Noviny), Greece (Protothema) or Portugal (Express and Public).

This action to influence European public opinion complements what was already done in September with the publication of President Aragonès’ opinion article in more than a dozen international newspapers.

The Government is acting from three different levels to intensify political contacts with European governments regarding the official status of Catalan in European institutions. Firstly, from Barcelona and Madrid, with contacts with the consular corps and the embassies. Secondly, from the Government delegations abroad located in the member states of the European Union, which establish contacts from the capitals of the different countries. And, thirdly, from the Government Delegation to the European Union, which coordinates a good part of the strategy and deploys contacts with the permanent representations of the member states to the European Union.

In this sense, the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès i Garcia, has received at the Palau de la Generalitat the 21 delegates of the Government abroad, and the 40 directors of the ACCIÓ offices in the world, as well as representatives of the Ramon Llull Institute, the ICEC and Prodeca, all of them involved in the internationalization of the country, and has highlighted “the historic opportunity” represented by the possibility of Catalan being official in the European institutions. “We are facing a political issue”, not a technical or budgetary one, which must serve to correct a “historical anomaly” and so that the Catalan language has recognition in the European institutions.

“We will not lower the level of demand for the Spanish Government to move towards the full official status of Catalan in the European institutions, because they are responsible for ensuring that it is achieved unanimously in the Council of the European Union”, concluded Minister Serret.