The official status of Catalan in the European Union will not be addressed in the next meeting of the EU General Affairs Council, but it is still on the European agenda. This was confirmed this Friday by the Belgian ambassador in Spain, Geert Cockxon a visit to Barcelona where he met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Meritxell Serret, and held an event alongside the Government delegate in Barcelona, Carlos Prieto.
As explained by Cockx, the decision is postponed pending receipt of all the commissioned reports on the “financial and legal consequences” of accepting the entry of Catalan, as well as Basque and Galician. However, it has promised to address it once all the information has been received from the Government and the European Commission. “When we have the reports, we will move forward,” he declared from the EU headquarters in the Catalan capital.
Lithuania doubts
Since the official status of Catalan was discussed for the first time in the EU last September, several countries have expressed doubts. The last to do so was the president of Lithuania, Nauseda Gypsies, who has expressed concern – in an interview in El Mundo – that the acceptance of Catalan could trigger a wave of similar requests, mainly due to the technical difficulty it would entail. This issue, together with the economic and bureaucratic issue, is one of the main uncertainties expressed repeatedly by the twenty-seven.
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From the Government, however, they call for “calm” and “prudence” and consider that, despite the doubts expressed by some countries, none of them have made an “explicit veto”, so they consider that the negotiations are continuing. “Doubts are expressed, no door is closed,” say Government sources, who consider that the process follows “the usual channels” and explain that the Foreign Affairs department works “intensely” to “provide all the necessary information” and be able to ” clarify and give more solidity to the proposal”.
The economic cost
At the moment, Brussels has estimated the cost of including these three languages at 132 million euros. About 44 million euros per language. However, the European Commission itself has acknowledged that this is a “preliminary assessment” and they explain that they will not be able to make a more precise financial calculation until the EU General Affairs Council adopts a formal position.