On Friday 18 July, the Danish Minister for European Affairs, Marie Bjerre, commented that “many concerns remain” regarding Spain’s request to grant three Spanish regional languages (Catalan, Basque and Galician) the status of official languages of the European Union (see EUROPE 13649/16).
No decision has therefore been taken by the General Affairs Council on this issue, which requires the unanimous agreement of the Member States.
On his arrival at the ministerial meeting, Poland’s Adam Szłapka said that “many Member States (needed) more time”, citing “legal concerns”. For his Finnish counterpart, Joakim Strand, “not enough progress has been made on the legal issues”. Luxembourg’s Xavier Bettel felt that the time was not right if the Member States were unable to agree on issues such as the EU’s relationship with Israel.
In contrast, the Spanish Secretary of State, Fernando Sampedro Marcos, felt that his country had provided all the necessary guarantees to put an end to discrimination affecting “20 million” Spaniards. He reiterated that Spain would bear all the budgetary costs. “Who knows if there are other reasons” for not making a decision? - he asked. In his view, the problem “is certainly not a lack of information”, as a detailed memorandum was sent to the Member States at the end of May. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)