Lack of consensus forces Spain to backtrack on its proposal on Catalan, Basque, and Galician in the EU

Ane Barcos/Eduardo González Spain's proposal to include Catalan, Galician, and Basque as official languages in the European Union starting in January 2027 has once again stalled in the General Affairs Council (GAC) due to the reluctance of several member states, forcing the Polish Presidency to "postpone" the debate and the Spanish government to abandon the vote scheduled for this Tuesday. Spain had redoubled diplomatic efforts to achieve consensus ahead of the GAC, in which State Secretary for the EU Fernando Sampedro participated. The day before, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares stated in a press conference that the government was working with "all EU member states" to "achieve a solid proposal" and that the Spanish proposal had been included on the GAC agenda "for adoption." However, after Fernando Sampedro opened the debate, several delegations took the floor to ask Spain to waive the vote and allow the postponement of a debate on which there were "unresolved" legal, economic, and practical questions, according to European sources told the Europa Press agency. For example, Finland confirmed its opposition on Tuesday, considering that the file "is not sufficiently mature" and that legal concerns persist that prevent an immediate vote. In this regard, Joakim Strand, Finland's Minister of European Affairs and State Participation Management, stated that he hopes the vote will not take place this Tuesday. Other countries, such as Sweden and Austria, expressed doubts about the legal and economic impact of the measure. France and Poland declined to confirm their position regarding a possible vote, while Croatia acknowledged that it needed more information before establishing its position. Within the favorable bloc, Denmark, Cyprus, and Slovenia expressed their support for the proposal. Finally, the Polish Presidency of the EU Council has taken the initiative to request a postponement of the debate, according to diplomatic sources who spoke to the Europa Press agency, without providing further details. Other sources clarified that the decision to postpone the vote was also taken after "many" member states requested "more clarity" and after legal services expressed doubts about the possibility of modifying the language regulations without a reform of the Treaties. Before Tuesday's debate, some countries had also expressed doubts, and even open opposition, due to the proposal's potential impact on other member states with minority languages. To convince the most reluctant partners, Spain had relied on the "exceptional nature" and "specificity of the Spanish case," which cannot be extrapolated to other cases, and had agreed to assume the costs. Modifying the EU's language regime requires the unanimous support of all 27 member states. Therefore, Finland's explicit rejection and the legal and economic concerns expressed by other countries were sufficient to block any decision. Polish Presidency At the end of the meeting, the Polish Presidency of the Council emphasized that the inclusion of the issue on the agenda responded to a formal request from the Spanish government, and that it is now "in Spain's hands" to clarify the legal, economic, and practical concerns expressed by several Member States. Polish Minister of European Affairs Adam Szłapka added that discussions will continue with the European Commission, which has already provided a preliminary cost estimate based on its experience with the incorporation of Irish as an official language of the EU. For his part, European Commissioner for Justice Michael McGrath noted that, according to Article 342 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, the Commission has no formal role in this process, but has offered its collaboration to support the Council should it decide to move forward with amending the language regulation. In that case, he explained, a more in-depth analysis would be carried out before any formal adoption. Albares After learning of the postponement of the vote, Albares told TV3 that the CAG debate had shown that 20 countries were "in a position to move forward with this proposal" and another seven that "still believe that more work is needed on the financial and legal aspects." He also asserted that it was not Spain that withdrew from the vote, but the Polish Presidency, which concluded that it was preferable to postpone this point after finding there was no consensus. "The issue remains on the table to achieve unanimity," Albares stated, adding that, starting this Tuesday, he would contact his counterparts from the seven reluctant countries to clarify their concerns. "The Spanish government is not going to give up, and I am sure that this is now irreversible," he added. Pilar Alegría: “Spain accepts the request of several countries to continue dialogue” At the press conference following the Council of Ministers, government spokesperson Pilar Alegría confirmed this Tuesday that Spain has accepted “the request of several countries to continue dialogue,” despite the fact that “great progress has been made in recent weeks and, in fact, a large number of states were willing to approve this measure this morning.” “It is also true that a smaller number of other countries have asked us for more time and more information,” she added. According to the spokesperson, the government will “continue working and engaging in dialogue to achieve this commitment and recognition.” The officialization of Catalan (and, incidentally, Basque and Galician) within the European Union was one of the commitments made by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the Catalan pro-independence Junts (Junts) to secure their support in the investiture vote. For this reason, the government took advantage of Spain's last Presidency of the EU Council (second half of 2023) to introduce the issue in four consecutive meetings of the General Affairs Council (September 19, October 24, November 15, and December 12, 2023), two of which were attended by Albares himself, something unusual in this type of meeting. Despite this insistence, all four meetings concluded without any concrete decision. In fact, Tuesday's meeting is not the first time Spain has been forced to withdraw from voting on its proposal. The previous meeting took place in December 2023, during the last General Affairs Council of the Spanish EU Presidency, which resolved the issue with a commitment from the incoming Belgian Presidency to "advance work on Spain's request during its term." However, the issue of languages was conspicuously absent from the agenda of all the General Affairs Councils during the Belgian semester, and it did not appear even once during the subsequent Hungarian Presidency. On January 29, Albares stated that his Polish counterpart, Radoslaw Sikorski, had committed to including the issue on the agenda of the current Polish Presidency to submit it to the "decision of all EU Member States." Last February, Albares asked his Danish counterpart, Marie Bjerre, to support the Spanish proposal during her country's next Presidency (which begins on July 1).

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