The European Union once again postpones the official status of Catalan.

Brussels / Madrid / BarcelonaNew forward-looking proposal by European Union member states on the official status of Catalan, Galician, and Basque. Despite the new Moncloa offensiveThe initiative has not received sufficient support in the EU Council, according to diplomatic sources told ARA. Thus, Spain will have to bring the measure back to the table at upcoming ministerial meetings if it wants the three co-official languages of the state to be recognized within the European institutions as a whole. But has there been progress compared to previous meetings? More countries supported Catalan, but it was not enough, as eight countries openly expressed their reluctance and asked to postpone the vote, according to other diplomatic sources present in the room. Furthermore, in statements to the media and contacted by this newspaper, five more countries expressed skepticism.

In the discussion, which lasted about three-quarters of an hour, the first member state to speak was Germany, which asserted that it was "premature" for a decision to be made this Tuesday. Even Germany has been the only country to state that, if the "adoption" item on the agenda is not withdrawn, it would vote against it.

Along the same lines, Italy has asked for more time to better analyze Spain's proposal and has advocated requesting a legal report from the EU Council's legal services. In fact, sources familiar with the Moncloa talks with other member states claim thatThe Spanish PP has put pressure on the German government, now led by conservative Friedrich Merz, and the Italian party, led by Giorgia Meloni, whose foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, is a member of the Popular Party (PP) political family and very close to the party led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo. Furthermore, the Catalan People's Party (PP) itself admitted on Monday that it had made calls to thwart the initiative, and Vox asserted that the PP had asked them to pressure countries governed by far-right families, such as Italy and Hungary, to persuade them to oppose it.

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has confirmed that seven countries have requested more information on the proposal, and although he has not specified which member states they are, diplomatic sources indicate that, apart from Germany and Italy, the following have been included: France, Croatia, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Finland, and Finland. Albares will contact his counterparts from the seven countries with reservations this afternoon and expressed his openness to studying "any proposal" they present. However, he made it clear in an interview on TV3 that the financial concerns have been resolved because the Spanish government is assuming the €140 million cost of this new regime. Regarding the legal aspects, he also stressed that it is perfectly compatible with the regulations of the European institutions.

Spain increases the pressure

Although the initiative has been postponed again, Spain has redoubled the pressure on the rest of its European partners to process the initiative in recent weeks. The same state delegations to the EU that this newspaper has contacted admit that the Moncloa has never pulled so many strings to get it approved since it first brought it to the EU Council. Until a few months ago, many of these diplomatic representatives claimed they didn't even know the status of this legislative dossier, and now they agree that it has become clear to them that this is a "priority" and "sensitive" issue for Pedro Sánchez's government.

In fact, the official status of Catalan, Galician, and Basque had never received as much public support until now as it did this Tuesday. Eight countries have expressed their support: Belgium, Hungary, Ireland, Slovenia, Portugal, Denmark, Romania, and Cyprus. Spain's next opportunity to make Catalan official in the EU is the General Affairs Council meeting scheduled for June 24. Another meeting will also be held in September, at the start of the new year and when EU budget negotiations begin.

Catalan and Spanish reaction

Along these lines, Albares emphasized that the path to recognition of Catalan is "irreversible." "Great progress had been made and a large number of states were willing," agreed the spokesperson for the Moncloa, Pilar Alegría, in the press conference following the cabinet meeting, and she assured that the Spanish government will continue working on it. What sources at the Moncloa admit is that the PP's efforts "have not helped," and Albares was explicit in urging that there should be no backsliding. "Today things have become a bit complicated, but we remain moderately optimistic," according to sources from Pedro Sánchez's team.

There are some voices that question the Spanish government's diplomatic efforts, such as the spokesperson for the ERC (Republican Left) in Madrid, Gabriel Rufián, who wondered "what influence Spain has in Europe." Thus, he has blamed this momentary failure on the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) and not Junts (Junts), which agreed to the official status of Catalan in the EU in exchange for Francina Armengol's presidency of Congress. "We will not mess with Junts. Surely, they would call us failures, but when the PSOE fails to comply, it is the PSOE's fault," he asserted. From the Moncloa government, they believe Junts should not be "angry" because they know that it has "worked hard" in the diplomatic arena.

Specifically, the former president and leader of the Junta, Carles Puigdemont, has avoided criticizing the Spanish government's actions while attacking the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, accusing him of non-compliance with the Statute of Catalonia, which states that the Generalitat (Catalan Government) and the Spanish State "push" the actions necessary for the recognition of the official status of Catalan in the European Union." Therefore, he stressed that he does not know "whether the PP is advocating disobedience, rebellion... or the crime of treason," "conspiring" with other countries against Catalan.

Isla attacks Feijóo

For his part, the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, accused the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, of "obstructionism" and boycotting the official status of Catalan in the European Union, along with the rest of the co-official languages, reports Martina Alcobendas from Tokyo. "It's disqualifying for someone who wants to govern Spain," he criticized in statements to the media, and also lamented that Feijóo had maneuvered to prevent the official status of his own language, Galician. "Things would be easier if there were people who built it," he added. Despite the failure, he emphasized that official status is now "closer" and will be achieved. The Comuns, for their part, also expressed hope.

The one who got into a mess this Tuesday was the Catalan People's Party (PP), after its secretary general, Santi Rodríguez, admitted yesterday that calls to derail officialdom: In response to the controversy, the spokesperson in Parliament, Juan Fernández, first said: "We can't talk about calls because we haven't called anyone," and then added that he couldn't "deny" anything about the calls.