This September 19, the Council of Ministers of the European Union will examine a specific request from the Spanish government. Its purpose: add Catalan, Basque and Galician to the list of official languages of the Union. A measure demanded by the independence party of Carles Puigdemont, as part of a possible coalition agreement with the current Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, but also by Pere Aragonès, the president of the regional government. The delegate of Catalonia in France describes here the issues of this demand.
The Express: The European Union already has 24 official languages. Is it really necessary to add three more?
Eva Doya Le Besnerais: Catalan has more than 10 million speakers, more than other EU languages such as Maltese, Danish or Latvian. Catalans are European citizens like any other, who notably finance translation services. As such, they must have the right to use their own language to dialogue with Europe and no longer be obliged, as today, to use a language other than their own.
Catalan has just entered the Spanish Chamber of Deputies. Isn’t that enough?
This is indeed good news which also concerns Basque, Galician and Aranese – a variant of Occitan spoken in the Val d’Aran. And that’s the end of an anomaly. Spain could not continue to recognize several official languages on its soil and prohibit the use of some of them in Parliament. We thus reach Canada, for example, where the debates are taking place. In English and French. Now we want the same to happen in Brussels.
Isn’t this claim above all symbolic? The European Union has 24 official languages, but, in practice, the working language is overwhelmingly English…
On the one hand, in politics, symbols are important: such recognition would strengthen the dignity of our language; It’s not nothing. But it would also have practical consequences. Take the example of a Catalan company that wishes to benefit from European aid to launch into green energy: it must use Castilian to send its requests to Brussels. This lengthens your response times and reduces your chances of success. Likewise, we must translate into Catalan all the standards issued by the European Union with which we are required to comply. There will be fewer procedures and complications.
Traditionally, it is at the time of its accession that a new Member State requests that its official language(s) be added to the official languages of the Union. Why didn’t Spain file this request when it entered Europe in 1986?
The Catalan claim had been there since the 1980s but, at that time, we were barely emerging from the Franco dictatorship, under which only the Castilian had the right to citizenship. Due to this repressive policy, the use of Catalan was then in decline. The priority was the establishment, in Catalonia, of an effective language policy in schools, the media, administrations, etc. Today, this work has borne fruit and we are ready to use our language at European level.
According to most observers, however, your request has little chance of being accepted. Unanimity of Member States is necessary to modify the number of official languages of the Union…
I do not share this analysis. Of course, not all member states are on our line at the start, but Europe is always like that! There are many disagreements, decisions are slow, but we end up finding compromises. Look at the agricultural subsidies! There is no reason why it should not be the same here.
It is hard to imagine France, which has always mistreated its minority languages, giving you its support, if only to avoid giving ideas to the Corsicans…
Each country has its history and I hear the fears that some people have in France on this subject. But things are not so simple. On the one hand, multilingualism is a fundamental value of Europe, whose motto is “United in diversity”. On the other hand, Spain is one of the rare countries with which France has signed a friendship treaty. It is therefore not easy to brush aside one of her requests while she is presiding over the European Union. Finally, France knows that this question will not disappear as if by magic in the event of refusal on September 19. Not only will the Catalans always make this one of their major demands, but Andorra is in the process of negotiating a special status in the European Union. However, Catalan is the only official language of this principality…
The fact remains: France – like all countries faced with linguistic minorities – can fear a snowball effect…
This is incorrect. For a new language to be accepted by the Union, it must first have official status in its country. Furthermore, the request must come from the government in place. These two conditions are not met in France. At home, only French has official status. And, as I said, a government which does not wish to see its minority languages have official status in Europe is not required to take steps in this direction. The situation is therefore different and the risk of gearing up is non-existent.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez accepted this request from the Catalan separatists because he needs their support to govern. But, deep down, he would perhaps be very happy to be able to take refuge behind a refusal from the Europeans and explain to you after September 19: “You see? I tried, but it’s not possible…”
If Pedro Sanchez wants our support, he knows he must accept some of our demands. On the contrary, he can therefore explain this to his European partners: “If I do not give in on the recognition of Catalan, I will have to be more generous with the other demands of the separatists, in particular the amnesty and the referendum on the self-determination of the Catalonia…” Other Europeans can understand this.
Precisely, where are the negotiations on this subject?
We consider as a prerequisite the amnesty of our leaders and our activists, who have been imprisoned, exiled or condemned simply for having wanted an election. We are hopeful on this point. We also continue to believe that, in a democratic country worthy of the name, voting is the only democratic way to resolve a dispute. The organization of a referendum on self-determination therefore remains our major demand. Unfortunately, on this issue, Pedro Sanchez seems closed.