The EU has in the end postponed its vote on the officiality of Catalan, Galician and Basque. The Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, had to withdraw the proposal because he could not overcome the doubts expressed by different countries in the face of an initiative that, to prosper, needs the support of all 27 members of the EU. Even this morning, the minister assured that he would advance his request for the Union to reform Regulation 1, which regulates the official languages of the EU, to include Catalan, Basque and Galician. However, before the meeting began, the representatives of different countries, including Sweden and Finland, insisted on openly showing their reluctance. In fact, only Slovenia spoke openly in favour in the run-up to the meeting.
The officiality of Catalan in the EU was one of the demands made by the Together for Catalonia (Junts) party in its agreement to vote in favour of the Socialist MP Francina Armengol to become speaker of Congress. If this move does not succeed at EU level, it might complicate the talks on the investiture of Pedro Sánchez as Spanish prime minister. Albares has two more meetings, within the deadline for voting on an investiture of Pedro Sánchez, in order to promote the initiative. If he fails to make it prosper, it would be a severe setback for Spain in the EU, since it is a tradition that the proposals of the countries holding the rotating presidency of the Union are always approved.
Today's meeting lasted just 45 minutes, which made it clear that there was no agreement. The Spanish minister will appear before the media this morning to explain how he will resume the negotiation of this point and attempt to overcome the misgivings of other EU member states.