The EU will discuss the official status of Catalan again on July 18.

BrusselsNew push from Spain to the official status of Catalan in the European UnionThe Spanish government has requested renewed discussions on the recognition of Catalonia's own language in the European institutions, and, according to diplomatic sources from the ARA (Argentine National Assembly), the Council of the European Union has agreed to include it on the agenda of the next General Affairs Council (GAC) meeting on July 18. This new attempt by the Spanish government comes after several member states openly opposed the initiative on May 27.

Sources from the Moncloa (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), according to sources from the Spanish Foreign Ministry, José Manuel Albares, has made the request to the Danish government, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council during this second half of the year. In fact, just this Monday, the Danish ambassador to the EU, Carsten Gronbech-Jensen, stated that the Spanish government had not yet contacted the Danish government regarding the official status of Catalan, Galician, and Basque in the EU, a request made by Junts (Junts) in exchange for having invested Pedro Sánchez.

However, at least some of the countries that rejected the initiative presented by Spain at the last ministerial meeting are still opposed. One of these member states is the largest and most influential member of the community club, Germany. In fact, at the General Affairs Council on May 27, the German representative was the first to speak at the meeting and stated that if his counterparts decided to vote for the Spanish government's proposal, they would vote against it; that is, he was prepared to veto it. In this regard, it is worth remembering that this is a measure that must be approved unanimously, and therefore, if even one European partner opposes it, it cannot be passed.

In this regard, after the failed attempt at the meeting on May 27, Spain ruled out requesting that it be discussed at the next General Affairs Council meeting, which took place in San Juan. In fact, diplomats from several member states assured the ARA that they considered it premature to include it again on the agenda of a ministerial meeting if there had been no progress on the initiative.

Albares himself admitted that seven member states had made their reluctance explicit, and diplomatic sources specified in this newspaper that these were Germany, Italy, Croatia, Austria, Sweden, Finland, and the Czech Republic. Regarding France, its position was so ambiguous that some sources believe it was in favor and others against.

In any case, the European partners' doubts remain the same: they fear that the treaties will have to be changed to make Catalan official, they find it legally complicated for Spain to pay the translation and interpretation costs, and above all, they fear that it will revive the demands of minority linguistic communities in their respective territories.