The EU Ministers responsible for European affairs will meet on Tuesday 24 October to prepare for the European Council meeting on Thursday 26 and Friday 27 October and to examine the state of respect for the Rule of law in five Member States.
At the end of the week, the EU Heads of State or Government will take stock of the situation in the Middle East and reiterate the EU’s position on this conflict, on the basis of the ministerial discussions held at the ‘Foreign Affairs’ Council on Monday 23 October (see other news).
According to draft European Council conclusions dated 22 October, of which EUROPE has received a copy, the EU27 could support the UN Secretary-General’s call for “a humanitarian pause” in the war between Israel and Hamas, which rules Gaza, to allow international humanitarian aid to reach the displaced population within the enclave itself.
The European Council will also address Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine (see other news), discuss the revision of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework, European migration policy following the terrorist attacks in France and Belgium, and European competitiveness in the technology sectors of the future.
See the European Council’s draft conclusions of 17 October: https://aeur.eu/f/97p
Rule of law. The Ministers will continue their debate on the state of the Rule of law in the EU, focusing on five countries: Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, and Greece.
These countries will be assessed on the basis of the four main chapters covered by the Commission’s annual reports on the subject (see EUROPE 13216/8): independence of the judiciary, freedom of the media, checks and balances, and national anti-corruption provisions.
EU language policy. On Tuesday, the ‘General Affairs’ Council will take stock of Spain’s request to grant three regional languages - Catalan, Galician and Basque - the status of official languages of the EU.
In September, faced with the reluctance of several Member States wishing to know the legal and financial implications of such a request, the Spanish government suggested starting with Catalan, which is spoken by almost 10 million Spaniards (see EUROPE 13253/22).
In the meantime, the Spanish authorities gave the delegations a presentation on the socio-economic importance of Catalan (a language spoken by more than 9 million people, taught in 150 universities around the world, including five in Asia, more than 30 newspapers and 12 television channels, Catalan versions of social networks such as YouTube), as well as its political importance (government and university institutions promoting its development, university translation courses). They assured that the inclusion of Catalan in the EU’s list of official languages will not slow down the administrative process or cause a domino effect by triggering other requests from other EU countries.
Granting Catalan the status of an official EU language is one of the demands of the Catalan separatists parties Junts per Catalunya and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya for the formation of a Spanish coalition government to be led by the socialist Pedro Sánchez.
Demography. The Ministers will have an exchange of views on the ‘Demography’ toolbox presented by the Commission on 11 October, which aims to identify ways of helping Member States to prevent the consequences of demographic ageing in the EU. Legal labour migration could play an important role in implementing this strategy (see EUROPE 13269/5).
Future of Europe. It should be noted that over lunch, the Ministers will continue the discussions held at the informal summit in Granada on the internal reform of the EU to enable it to function with more than thirty member countries and to meet the challenges of the future. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic and Mathieu Bion, with Lionel Changeur)