The Government has mobilized its embassies in the European Union to gather support for the discussion that the General Affairs Council will hold on December 12 on the inclusion of Catalan, Basque and Galician among the official languages of the community institutions. .
“Given that it does not entail costs for the Member States and that it responds to the unique nature of the Spanish situation, the support of that country for the proposal is requested,” indicates the message sent yesterday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the ambassadors of Spain, to the that this newspaper has had access to. In it, the basic argument is recalled to defend the proposal to reform the regulation that regulates the official languages of the EU, which was defended by José Manuel Albares in September. In view of the political, financial and logistical reluctance raised by more than a dozen member states, the Government revised the initial legal proposal so that the reform is tailored to the Spanish situation, so that the rest of the countries do not feel that you open the door to similar demands from your linguistic minorities.
The inclusion of additional languages in the community regime, according to the Spanish proposal, will be reserved for languages that “have the constitutional recognition of that State”, that “are working languages in the national Parliament of the Member State”, that “have been used for a period plus 10 years” in the institutions through bilateral administrative agreements, languages for which there is a certified copy of the translation of the Lisbon treaty in the archives of the Council, and only if the requesting country assumes “all costs arising from Its use". Only Catalan, Basque and Galician meet these characteristics, according to the Government, which insists that the request "responds to the unique nature of the Spanish constitutional order" and that it affects "widely spoken languages." This is not a “new request,” he reiterates to separate it from the investiture agreements, since Spain “has been raising this issue for two decades.” The issue is on the agenda of the next General Affairs Council as a point for voting, but the Government has not yet decided whether to take that step: the reform can only be approved unanimously.
