Plataforma per la Llengua, in a coordinated initiative with Irish MEP Chris MacManus, has succeeded in having the Council of the European Union refute the claim that the Spanish government has ever requested Catalan to become an official language of the European Union.

In response to a formal question from the Irish MEP in this institution, the Council also states that for a language to become official in the European Union, it only requires a unanimous decision by the Member States that make it up-through the Regulation that establishes the official languages-and it does not require any treaty reform.

These two statements-that the official status of Catalan has never been requested until now and that no treaty reform is necessary to achieve it-directly contradict what the Spanish government has affirmed several times on this issue.

At the end of 2021, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, stated that the Zapatero government had already requested official status in 2004 and that their request had been denied because it required a treaty modification.

Starting this Saturday, Spain holds the rotating presidency of this institution until the end of 2023, an event that occurs approximately once every 13 years. Therefore, Plataforma per la Llengua demands that Spain takes advantage of the opportunity it now has to set topics on the agenda and negotiate priorities, and that it requests the reform of Council Regulation No. 1 of 1958 to include Catalan as an official language of the EU.

Plataforma per la Llengua recalls that this Regulation has already been modified up to 7 times to add new official languages. In an event held last Tuesday to demand official status with journalist Antoni Bassas, jurist Narcís Mir, and singer-songwriter Halldor Mar, the vice president of the organization, Mireia Plana, stated: "There are 9 meetings within the framework of the Spanish presidency from July 1st until the day of the elections. 9 meetings that are 9 opportunities for the Sánchez government to make this request to the colleagues in the institution they now preside over.

In February, over 70 organizations and 50,000 individuals supported a manifesto requesting the official status of Catalan. Among the signatories were FC Barcelona, the Barcelona Medical College, the Chambers of Commerce of Terrassa, Girona, and Barcelona, the Hospital Clínic, CECOT, Intersindical, Escola Valenciana, Obra Cultural Balear, and the STEI of the Balearic Islands.