EUROPEAN UNION

General Affairs Council in Brussels

José Manuel Albares supports the necessity of giving official status in the European Union to Catalan, Basque and Galician because these are not minority languages and because of the "specificity of the Spanish constitutional linguistic regime".

September 20, 2023

The acting minister pointed out that "this is not a new or unprecedented proposal made by Spain", as "administrative arrangements" were already agreed in 2005 so that these three languages could be used in the EU.

However, the GAC meeting ended without a vote on the matter, because the delegations have stated that they need "more time" to study the matter, and a legal opinion from the EU Council on the consequences of the measure and an analysis of its economic and practical impact on the functioning of the bloc is awaited.

FOTOS: PEPE MÉNDEZ (NOLSOM)