The Government rescues the precedent of Arabic in the UN to defend Catalan in Europe

Pablo R. SuanzesBrussels Correspondent

Brussels Correspondent

Updated Monday, March 18, 2024-18:45

• Politics Spain offers to assume the cost of converting Catalan, Galician and Basque into EU languages

• Foreign Affairs Albares asks the ambassadors to "continue working" to include "Galician, Catalan and Basque" in the European Union

The debate on the possibility of Catalan, Basque and Galician being recognized as official languages ​​of the European Union is not dead, but it is in an induced coma.

The Government put it on the table in September 2023, at a meeting of the

General Affairs Council

(CAG), and kept it on the agenda until December, taking advantage of the fact that at that time Spain had the rotating presidency of the EU Council.

He did it despite the complaints of several partners, some public reproaches from ministers, that he knew that there was not and will not be, at least for a long time, a minimum consensus to open that melon.

He did it without having the legal reports and cost estimates that his colleagues requested.

And he did it, angering friends and allies, because he had no choice to gain the support of Junts and ERC.

In January, the presidency passed to Belgium, a country that, without being exactly critical of this matter, and that even sympathizes with the idea, automatically removed it from the agenda at the next meeting of the CAG, which normally brings together the secretaries of State for European Affairs, but to which

José Manuel Albares

himself attended in person several consecutive times to stage, more towards the Catalan parties than towards the community governments, the unbreakable commitment of the Government with an idea that is clear that it has no future right now.

Belgium understood that there was no reason to continue adding the issue to the agenda, but this time, for this Tuesday's appointment, it will make an exception.

The question of languages ​​will be formally a point of information.

No type of debate is expected, and there will not be one, much less a possible vote.

Governments asked for legal reports and cost estimates, and for now there are none.

The European Commission sent a preliminary estimate, which said that the sudden inclusion of the three languages ​​could involve an expense of at least 132 million euros per year.

It is not a final figure by any means, but rather an exercise taking into account the example of Gaelic, the last of a new official language.

And he warned that a more rigorous calculation required a lot of time.

Why is it addressed again then?

Because Spain has made a maneuver by once again forcing the machine and asking for that courtesy.

The principle is that if a country wants to discuss an issue that is important, it is normal for it to be included.

It is true, but since it is not the first time, the Government has had to look for a prettier packaging.

Which comes in the form of a letter from the minister to his colleagues and a small annex with a kind of legal argument to try to counteract the legal arguments of the community institutions.

More than enough to change the status, enough to continue irritating those who think there are much more serious issues to talk about.

But at least valid for what the minister is now looking for, which is something like precedents to be able to maintain that it is a live discussion in the EU and has not entered a definitive black hole.

If it appears, it exists.

Summarized and simplified, countries believe that adding one or three regional languages, even if they are co-official in their respective autonomous communities, is a serious problem.

Not so much economic, since Spain has said from day one that it would assume it.

But political and organizational.

If these three are accepted, dozens of similar requests could arrive.

Spain maintains that no, that our case is unique, that there are no equivalents, that others could not use it.

"The reform proposed by Spain does not seek to create new rights, neither now nor in the future. On the contrary, it wants to put an end to an extraordinarily anomalous situation in the linguistic context of the EU," says point 10 of the document.

The legal services of the Council also consider that for the official status of Catalan, Basque and Galician it may be necessary to reform the treaties, and a modification of Regulation 1/1958, to which Spain refers again and again, would not be enough. .

And while this would be reasonably simple, the other has unimaginable implications.

National identity

Hence the Spanish argument.

In his letter, to which

EL MUNDO

has had access , Albares says that "the issue is a priority for Spain as it is a part of its national identity, inherent to our fundamental, political and constitutional structures."

He also says that "the diversity that those languages ​​represent is at the heart of the cultural wealth and linguistic heritage" of the continent.

And a good part of the 16 points that he breaks down in the next three pages of the memo actually explain why linguistic diversity is so important for and in our country.

"They have deep historical roots, a high number of speakers, and a place in the Constitution," which he cites at length.

Throughout a dozen points, the Government explains to its partners the structure of languages, their role in the statutes of autonomy or what co-official status entails (ironically, on Tuesday the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament will vote on a report on the discrimination against Spanish in Catalonia while ministers meet).

Almost begging for the favor because for one of the 27 it is something decisive, right now when he needs independence support for everything, but not last year when it was not the case.

But the legally important part comes last.

The EU distinguishes between working languages, official languages ​​and authentic languages, into which the Treaties are translated when a country joins the Union.

Article 55 of the EU Treaty, in point 2, stipulates that the document may "be translated into any other language determined by the Member States among those that, in accordance with their constitutional systems, have official language status in all or in part of its territory. The Member State concerned shall provide a certified copy of these translations, which shall be deposited in the archives of the Council."

But that does not make them "authentic languages."

And that is why the institutions' lawyers believe that a modification could be necessary.

Spain often uses the case of Gaelic, which was adopted at all levels very recently.

But Ireland did include it from the beginning, although it did not develop it later.

That is, it was "authentic" before it was official.

And now it would be searched the other way around.

Given these doubts, the Government says that in our country legislation is adopted in other languages ​​even though they are not included as official for the entire territory in the Constitution.

And he also uses the example of Arabic in the United Nations, stating that the distinction is "common practice in public international law" and that the UN adopted it as an official language and of the Security Council, despite the fact that it is not recognized as a "language." authentic in the Charter".