Politics
Several countries consider it 'unacceptable' that Spain makes EU enlargement conditional on recognition of Basque, Catalan and Galician
The Secretary of State for the EU said in Brussels that the three languages must be recognised as official before the EU accepts any new countries and, by extension, languages
Several European countries have criticised Spain for making the enlargement of the EU conditional on the recognition of Basque, Catalan and Galician languages.
Lithuanian Deputy ... Minister for Foreign Affairs Sigitas Mitkus described as "unacceptable" the Spanish government's threat to veto the accession of new countries to the EU if member states do not approve the official status of these three languages.
He was not the only one. Swedish Foreign Minister Jessica Rosencrantz stated that the debate on enlargement and that on the official status of languages are two separate issues. "Let me be clear. The discussion on EU enlargement is one thing and that on the recognition of languages is another. I do not believe these two debates need to be linked," she stated.
Three years have passed since Spain's Minister for Foreign Affairs José Manuel Albares presented his proposal to the EU-27 for the official recognition of Basque, Catalan and Galician.
Some European countries, however, still express "reservations" regarding the economic and political impact of this decision, which requires unanimity for its adoption.
"We are fully in favour of enlargement. We believe it to be a positive development, but it is unthinkable for Spain that there should be a single additional language within the EU's official languages unless Catalan, Basque and Galician are also included," Albares stated in a radio interview on Monday.
Secretary of State for the EU Fernando Sampedro said at Tuesday's General Affairs Council in Brussels: "Our country has always been one of the strongest advocates of enlargement and ensuring that this enlargement is accompanied by the recognition of the official languages of the new EU member states."
He pointed out that Spain hopes that "the recognition of Basque, Catalan and Galician will take place before that of other new languages".
Sampedro said that "there is no reason" to continue delaying this decision. "We are convinced that they will become official and we want this to happen as soon as possible," he stated.
He also expressed his willingness to "address any concerns that may exist" among European partners, but stressed that "there are no grounds, neither budgetary nor technical, that justify failing to recognise the linguistic rights of 20 million Spaniards".
Rosencrantz responded that the other countries "will listen to the information they have to share, but this is not a new discussion" and added that Spain has still not responded to the financial and legal concerns of the member states.
"We need a serious process, with a working group to analyse what this proposal entails," she concluded.
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