The leader of the Spanish region, Salvador Illa, is fighting for Spain’s regional languages — Catalan, Basque and Galician — to be recognised as official EU ones.
Pushing for Catalan to become an official EU language has been one of the key goals of Catalonia President Salvador Illa during his last visit to Brussels.
The language, spoken by around 10 million people in the Spanish regions of Catalonia, the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands, Andorra and parts of France and Italy, is part of a joint bid with Basque and Galician to become officially recognised by the EU.
Illa believes this is a key demand for its citizens. “Giving the official status to these languages, you are saying to the citizens of Catalonia, of Galicia, of the Basque country: ‘You are part of Europe!’”, he told Euronews.
The EU currently has 24 official languages. All of its legal acts and treaties are translated to all. The plenary sessions of the European Parliament and the meetings of the European Council and the Council of the EU are interpreted in each.
For Illa, “this is not a matter of translating more or less documents, it is a matter of respecting the identity of European citizens”.
The decision must be approved unanimously by all 27 EU countries and is now being discussed by European affairs ministers. Minor progress has been made on the issue since Spain presented the proposal during its rotating presidency in the summer of 2023.
Including three new official languages might cost around 132 million euros per year,** according to a preliminary report made by the European Commission and published by several Spanish media.
Brussels estimates that each language would cost around €44 million per year, including adapting documents and hiring interpreters and translators. If the proposal is approved, Spain has offered to pay for it.
Now Catalan can be spoken in the Council of the EU if the ministers ask for it several weeks in advance. This happened in September 2024, when Spain’s Industry Minister Jordi Hereu spoke Catalan in a meeting for the first time in 20 years.
At the same time, the European Parliament is looking into the possibility of all three languages being used by MEPs during plenary sessions.
Just a poltical manoeuvre to get nationalists on board?
Getting the 27 member states to support Spain’s demands to make the three languages official in the EU might prove to be difficult, however.
Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez’s government made the proposal as a way to get the support of pro-independence parties, especially former Catalan President and MEP Carles Puigdemont’s Junts per Catalunya.
Puidgemont, who led the Spanish region’s separatist movement, remains abroad after being wanted by the authorities in Madrid ever since the failed attempt at independence in 2017.
Therefore, the decision to push for the recognition of the Catalan language is raising eyebrows in several EU countries, which see it as a political manoeuvre by Sánchez.
“This was a demand of this political party, but is a shared demand of lots of people not only from Catalonia (but also) in the Basque country, in Galicia,” Illa claims.
“This is not, let’s say, a political issue, or a political demand. I would put it from another angle. This is a fair measure from a linguistic point of view. There are 20 million citizens that speak these official languages.”
This is Illa’s second visit to Brussels since he was sworn in as president of Catalonia six months ago. The socialist politician has made Brussels one of his priorities, choosing veteran insider Jaume Duch, long time spokesperson of the European Parliament, as his minister for the EU and external affairs.
One of his goals is to restart completely the relations between Catalonia and the EU.
“That’s our aspiration I think we are going to achieve it. We want to be fully involved in the European construction, in the European project, in a moment, in a fast-changing world that gives no other way of strengthening European project”, Illa explained.
His trip last week included a meeting with European Council President António Costa and Vice-President of the European Commission, Teresa Ribera.
But he is not the first one who tried to break through the wall that Catalonia faced during the decade that included a pro-independence referendum, or the so-called “Procés”.
Former Catalan president and pro-independence leader Pere Aragonès already met with some members of the European Commission in 2022, a first for a Catalan leader in several years.
Now, for the first time in more than 10 years, Catalonia has a president who opposes the region’s independence.
“I respect all the political projects, but my view is that in this fast changing world, we need to strengthen the things that unite us and not highlight the things that separate us”, Illa summed up his stance.
You can listen to the entire interview in Euronews’ podcast, Radio Schuman.
