The president of Plataforma per la Llengua, Òscar Escuder, published an article last Sunday in the newspaper El Punt Avui to announce the launch of the campaign for official status over the coming months.
In it, he recalled that the first institution to make such a demand was the parliament of the Balearic Islands in 1987, and that, despite successive requests from civil and political sectors, the Spanish government has effectively asked for Catalan to be an official language.
Escuder points out that official status has an impact on the possibility of promoting the use of the language in Catalan-speaking areas and recalls that the idea being able to speak Catalan in the European Parliament - a request made last year by the Spanish government and which has not yet received a response from the European Parliament - has always run up against the governing Bureau of the institution, which has a stronger ideological and political component.
Meanwhile, Escuder says, official status is decided in the Council of the EU by pragmatic negotiation between member States. Here Spain only needs to negotiate skilfully in order to achieve it.
Escuder says Plataforma per la Llengua has explained that there are no major legal obstacles to official status and that, during the next few weeks of the campaign, the organisation will devote itself to foreign diplomacy to persuade States to accept official status for Catalan.
Launch of the catalaoficial.eu website
On Saturday, Plataforma per la Llengua launched the campaign website catalaoficial.eu, which provides inforation on the official status of languages in the EU and publishes a different disadvantage resulting from the lack of official status every day.
In 72 hours the campaign has collected almost 20,000 signatures of support and more than €10,000 of at least €15,000 required to carry out the campaign.
The organisation is asking citizens and businesses to support the campaign by signing to support official status for Catalan and making donations to finance it, as well as becoming members of Plataforma per la Llengua.
If you want us to continue working to protect Catalan in the European Union, join the more than 25,000 members who already support us: becoming a member only takes three minutes!
