Plataforma per la Llengua is once again raising the issue of the official status of the Catalan language in the EU. Taking advantage of the period of negotiation and distribution of high-ranking posts in the institutions that has opened up among the 27 EU Member States as a result of the European elections, the organisation reminds Pedro Sánchez's government that the official status of Catalan cannot be left out of the exchange of letters that takes place every five years.
According to the Catalan NGO, the government should seize the moment to overcome the reluctance of those Member States that have not yet said yes to official status. Above all, it should be noted that in the two most sceptical countries so far (Finland and Sweden), the results were more favourable to the opposition parties, which are ideologically closer to the Spanish government.
The organisation is concerned that the Spanish government continues to renege on the commitment it made during the investiture negotiations to make Catalan official in the EU. “They have the bargaining power to obtain official status, and they would use it if it were a question of Spanish being recognised in the EU on the same level as Italian, or otherwise being put on a lower footing. All that is needed is for them to want to use that bargaining power for this purpose,” says Marga Payola, International Coordinator of Plataforma per la Llengua. While welcoming Hungary's “readiness” to discuss the issue, Payola insists that only the Spanish state is in a position to resolve the impasse.
Plataforma per la Llengua calls for the state to vote on the language’s official status regardless of the assessment of the EU Council's legal services, which already ruled on the issue in 2004 in a position “lacking any legal basis”. This is according to a report, released in December, by two EU law professors from King's College in London and Birmingham University. The non-profit proposes putting the issue to a vote and, in the event of a hypothetical unfavourable decision, to appeal to the CJEU.
