Plataforma per la Llengua has celebrated the letter sent by Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares to the EU Council requesting the inclusion of Catalan, Basque and Galician in the European regulation that establishes the official EU languages.

In an article published today in El Periódico, the Catalan NGO maintains that Albares's letter is good news, but stresses that it is only the first step on a journey, with many unknowns remaining.

The next step the organisation is demanding is for the Spanish government to make public the memorandum it will present to the Council, in order to confirm that it will specifically request the inclusion of Catalan "on the list of languages in Article 1 of the Regulation, which is what establishes the official and working languages of the EU".

The organisation issues this warning bearing in mind that when the Zapatero government requested a status for Catalan "halfway between official status and non-recognition" in 2004, it did so by trying to use the same regulation, and that "similar temptations" must be avoided.

However, the organisation is confident that Spain will ask the Council to process a request for official status for Catalan because, although the letter made public on Thursday contained little information, the minister made a verbal statement the same day showing a desire to apply for official recognition of all three languages.

Plataforma per la Llengua also warns of possible pitfalls on the road to official status, such as a refusal by the other EU States to accept it, and holds the Spanish government responsible for obtaining their consent. "The States exchange letters continuously based on their interests and it is up to the Spanish government to negotiate skilfully, as it would do if the official status of Spanish depended on it."

It also insists that if the EU Council claims there is a legal impediment to official status, Spain must challenge such a refusal in the CJEU, considering that this would be a new course of action with regard to the precedent of 2004.

Advantages for Catalan

The Catalan NGO considers official status to be crucial so that Catalan can "face the challenge of globalisation with greater security" and it gives a few examples of what it would mean for Catalan to be considered an official EU language, such as the possibility of promoting it in the labelling of food and health products or the chance to use it in the European justice system.

"It would not only have effects on its public presence, it would also make it more useful and necessary in various areas, linking knowledge of Catalan more closely to improved social status," the organisation believes.

Seizing the opportunity

Plataforma per la Llengua believes the rotating presidency of the EU held by Spain is a good window of opportunity to achieve this historic demand, as the Spanish State now has greater negotiating capacity than it usually does.

That is why it began a campaign in June aiming to raise awareness of the importance of official status for Catalan in Europe, to press the Spanish public authorities to work towards this goal and to educate EU countries so that they understand the demand.

The organisation held an event in Barcelona on 27 June with the journalist Antoni Bassas, the lawyer Narcís Mir and the Icelandic singer-songwriter Halldor Mar to explain the benefits and feasibility of official status, it informed MEPs of the demand and the situation of Catalan, projected a giant poster on the facade of Barcelona City Hall to ask for Mayor Collboni's commitment to Catalan in Europe, and, together with an Irish MEP from Sinn Fein, managed to get the EU to confirm in writing that Spain had never raised the official status of these languages until now, contradicting Foreign Minister Albares's statement to the Spanish parliament in September 2021.

Joint manifesto

In February, a manifesto in favour of the official status of Catalan promoted by Plataforma per la Llengua, Òmnium Cultural, Acció Cultural del País Valencià, FemCat, Intersindical-SCC, Obra Cultural Balear, the Institut d'Estudis Eivissencs and Obra Cultural Balear de Formentera, gathered backing from more than 70 organisations, including Barcelona Football Club and the Barcelona Medical Association, as well as the support of more than 50,000 individuals.