Nicolas Levrat: "Official status in the EU wouldn't significantly change the functional status of Catalan either."
UN Special Rapporteur on Minorities
BrusselsNicolas Levrat (1964, Versoix) is a Swiss lawyer, a career civil servant at the Council of Europe, and an expert on minorities. He has researched the situation of various European peoples at several universities and organizations, and since November 2023, he has been the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of minorities.
Should the EU recognize Catalan as an official language?
This is a very open question and not within my mandate as UN Special Rapporteur. I deal with minority languages, and in principle, official languages are not the minority languages that need protection. That said, there are several Member States that have more than one recognized language in the EU, which means it is possible.
The last country to achieve this was Ireland…
It's an interesting case. It has two recognized languages: English and its native Irish, Irish Gaelic. However, although it's official, Irish Gaelic isn't always available in the European Parliament, for example. Therefore, I understand the symbolic dimension for Catalans of official status in the EU, but it wouldn't significantly change the language's functional status. For example, my native language is French, but the language of communication at the UN is almost always English. Moreover, even if we stopped recognizing English as an official language in the EU, I don't think it would disappear as a language of communication within the EU.
Is it easier to achieve official status for a language if you have a state behind you, as in the case of Ireland with Irish?
Of course. If Catalonia were a state and a member state, when it joins the EU, it could naturally decide which language or languages are its official languages. However, it could also participate in the accession negotiations and be allowed to join the EU but without its language. Now, I imagine this could happen, for example, if a country with Russian-speaking minorities, like Latvia, wanted to include Russian, which is science fiction because of its current relations with Russia. Although in practice it's a political issue, in principle, if you're a member state, you have the right to choose your official language. And it doesn't matter if it's new or how many speakers it has. Just look at the case of Malta, which is a very small country.
Why do you think some countries, like Germany, are against making Catalan an official language?
It's a political issue. There's a government that clearly isn't supporting it. You know that the German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, isn't exactly from the same party as the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez. One of the Germans' arguments is the potential costs and that translations and interpretations will soon be much cheaper thanks to artificial intelligence. But I don't see the problem if Catalonia pays for it. And it's worth remembering that Germany already covers the costs of German translations and interpretations at the Council of Europe [a European organization that is not part of the EU], where the only official languages are English and French. Ultimately, it's a political issue.
Does the EU truly respect linguistic diversity and minority languages?
There is clearly a problem with minority languages. Although EU treaties make clear reference to the rights of minority language communities, they do not take them into account in the context of non-discrimination. This contradicts the UN Charter.
And what can you do as special rapporteur for minority languages such as Catalan?
I work for minority languages and will push for an improvement in their situation, but I will not invest efforts in making Catalan, Galician, and Basque official languages in the EU. That is not my job. I have made a series of visits to several countries, and next month I will present a report with recommendations and negotiate with the administrations to implement them. The outlook is somewhat disappointing, but I try to be constructive.
How do you see the situation of Catalan?
It's a case I've followed closely, and I'm aware, for example, of all the legal actions some Spanish speakers in Catalonia are taking. But minorities will always be under pressure, and not necessarily from institutions, but from the dominant group that wants to exert even more control.
Is Catalan in danger?
No, my opinion is no. There are many other less widely spoken languages that lack institutional support and are in far greater danger than Catalan. However, my job is to work for languages like yours. And I must say that, to a certain extent, all languages are endangered, even English. When I was at the Council of Europe, a representative from the United Kingdom told me that English with a British accent should be considered a minority language because nobody speaks it properly anymore [laughs]. With this example, I want to show you that everyone finds good reasons to want to perpetuate their language. However, these reasons must come from within, from the speakers, and not from a protection system like the one offered by the EU, the Council of Europe, or the UN. Naturally, we will try to help them grow or survive, but it must come from the community. And the Catalan community is very strong, not only with the language but also with the arts. I don't believe that Catalan is the most threatened language in Europe.
