The Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union presented to the ‘Foreign Affairs’ Council, on Wednesday 15 November, Spain’s request to grant Catalan, Basque and Galician the status of ‘official languages of the EU’ (see EUROPE 13278/16).
This request was the subject of a revised legislative proposal envisaging a gradual process, starting with Catalan. Other elements aim to specify the particularity of the Spanish application so that it does not give rise to similar applications from other countries.
The Secretary of State for European Affairs, Pascual Ignacio Navarro Ríos, indicated that the Member States had not asked any questions following his presentation on the progress of current and future work. He did not say whether this issue would be on the agenda of the ‘General Affairs’ Council on Tuesday 12 December.
The Vice-President of the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič, was unable to say when the report on translation and interpretation costs would be ready, as several EU institutions have to be consulted beforehand. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)