EU Again Delays Recognition Of Catalan, Basque And Galician As Official Languages

 May 28, 2025 

By EurActiv

By Inés Fernández-Pontes

(EurActiv) — EU countries have once again postponed a decision on granting Catalan, Basque and Galician official status as EU languages, citing a lack of unanimous support among member states.

It has been two years since Madrid formally submitted a proposal to amend the EU’s linguistic regime to include Spain’s three most widely-spoken minority languages, which requires the support of all 27 countries. The bloc’s Europe ministers met to discuss the proposal in Brussels on Tuesday.

But just after the meeting, Spanish government spokesperson Pilar Alegría said during a press conference in Madrid that some countries had requested “more time and more information”. She added that Spain would “undoubtedly accept their request.”

Several large countries had reservations about the cost and legal feasibility of incorporating three new languages into the EU machinery, three EU diplomats told Euractiv.

Currently, the use of Catalan, Basque and Galician within EU institutions is governed by administrative agreements between Spain and specific EU bodies. They can be used in the institutions – in meetings or debates, for example – with prior notice and approval.

The cost of the translation of all EU legislation and the use of interpreters and translators in the three languages has been calculated by the European Commission at around €132 million per year. Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares has previously said Spain would be willing to pay these costs entirely.

EU ministers have once previously delayed a decision on the proposal after a September 2023 meeting.

Sánchez’s growing headache

The official status of Catalan was one of the main conditions imposed by the main right-wing separatist party Junts to provide the seven votes that allowed Pedro Sánchez to become prime minister for a second term.

This demand was backed by left-wing sepratists ERC in Catalonia, and by Basque and Galician nationalist parties. Basque nationalist parties PNV and EH Bildu are Basque to be granted official status in the EU – as are the BNG in Galicia.

The use of Spain’s co-official languages at national institutions was approved in 2023, to allow “the use of the languages that have the character of official in some Autonomous Communities.”

The next step, Sánchez told Catalan separtists, was to guarantee the official status of Catalan as the EU’s 25th official language – but Sánchez and his government have run into opposition in other European capitals.

Albares said on Tuesday that the three languages’ official status is “a matter of Spanish national identity,” and as such the EU “must protect the national identity of all member states.”

Eddy Wax and Magnus Lund Nielsen contributed reporting.