The Catalan officialdom in the European Union will not be discussed at the next meeting of the EU General Affairs Council. The issue had been present in all the meetings held since September, however, it is not among the topics to be discussed at the next meeting, which will take place on January 29. The new criterion coincides with the change of rotating presidency. In the last six months, with Spain in charge, it had been included repeatedly, since the Government had special interest in its approval due to the pacts between the PSOE and the independence parties, but Belgium considers that until there is news, that is, reports, it is trivial to include it on the agenda.
Just because it is not on the agenda for the next meeting does not mean that the issue is buried. This is the interpretation made by the Government of the Generalitat, which considers that the matter is at the same point as last December, when the Twenty-Seven did not make any decision and postponed the debate until they had all the relevant reports and studies. “That it is not on the agenda is not significant,” point out sources from the Catalan executive, who also explain that next week he Belgian ambassador plans to travel to Barcelona and meet with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Meritxell Serretalong with other departments.
An appointment that, according to the same sources, will serve to discuss “the priorities of the Belgian presidency” and also “a new opportunity” to address the official status of Catalan in the EU. Furthermore, the Government plans to travel to Brussels soon to resume contacts to achieve this.
In the Palau de la Generalitat they are aware that there will not be an “immediate” decision, but they forcefully rule out that this is “the end” of anything, which is why they assure that they will continue working “with the working groups, the ministry and the Belgian presidency”.
Junts’ position
From Together They also downplay the importance of the fact that the issue has not been included on the agenda. In fact, they believe that it would be “counterproductive” for it to be in every meeting and they point out that the important thing is that “all the states’ concerns are resolved, so that when it is on the agenda it can be approved.”
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Since the official status of Catalan was discussed for the first time in the EU last September, several countries have expressed doubts. On the one hand, there are political concerns, as some member states consider that it could represent a preceding for other languages to enter. But there is also uncertainty about what it would represent At an economic, practical and bureaucratic level, the fact of go from 24 to 27 official languages, including Catalan, Basque and Galician.
At the moment, Brussels has estimated the cost of including these three languages at 132 million euros. However, the European Commission itself assures that this is a “preliminary assessment” and explains that they will not be able to make a more precise financial calculation until the EU General Affairs Council adopts a formal position. At the time, the Government also offered to assume this cost directly to dispel doubts, but it was not enough to get the green light.