Spain presents its veto to EU enlargement in Brussels if Catalan, Galician and Basque are not made official

This Tuesday in Brussels, the Government presents its veto to the enlargement of the European Union if Catalan, as well as Galician and Basque, do not become official languages. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, already made it clear two weeks ago, and the Secretary of State for the European Union, Fernando Sampedro, has pointed it out again before the General Affairs Council (GAC) in which he will present the Spanish position to the rest of the European partners.

"Spain remembers that three years ago Minister Albares made this proposal for the recognition of all official Spanish languages ​​and we hope that this recognition can occur before other languages," he explained before agreeing to the GAC meeting.

"They can be incorporated into the list of official languages ​​of the European Union simply because it is time, 40 years after Spain's accession to the European Union, to end this discrimination suffered by 20 million Spaniards, 20 million Europeans who live in territories with more than one official language compared to other Europeans who have more than one official language," he stressed.

Spain's position is clear, although it proposes it only as a point of information and not as a formal debate and much less an issue to be voted on. That is, it is more of a political gesture, another one, towards the independence partners than a real action in Brussels. But even so, some of the European partners have already been equally clear with the Spanish position: they are against linking the entry of a country with the official status of Catalan or Galician.

"I want to make it very clear that enlargement is one thing and the debate about other languages ​​is another. And, when it comes to enlargement, Sweden is a strong advocate of moving forward with Montenegro and with many of the other countries that are making progress. And I don't think these issues should be linked in that way," said Sweden's EU Minister, Jessica Rosencrantz.