Latvia and Lithuania oppose making Catalan official in the EU but the debate will remain open at a technical level

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At least two delegations, Latvia and Lithuania, have openly expressed their opposition to modifying the regulation that governs the use of official EU languages ​​to include Catalan, Basque and Galician, although the debate will continue at a technical level in within the Twenty-seven since a greater number of partners have shown themselves willing to continue discussing whether Spain details key issues such as cost or its legal reserve.

This has been reflected in the debate of just half an hour that the ministers meeting in the General Affairs Council of the EU had this Tuesday in Luxembourg, as several diplomatic sources have informed Europa Press.

Already upon arrival, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Prime Minister of Latvia, Krisjani Karins, warned in a statement to the press that he did not expect changes in the rules on languages ​​because the Twenty-seven have other geostrategic "problems" on their agenda "to which to spend time and focus on.

Once at the meeting, both Karins and his Lithuanian colleague, Gabrielius Landsbergis, expressed their rejection of the "political impact" that such a measure could have on other member states such as their own, where there is a minority that speaks Russian, explain the sources consulted by Europa Press.

In any case, another dozen countries have taken the floor to indicate that they are willing to continue discussing the Spanish proposal, but making it clear that they will do so "on the basis of more detailed technical work."

This shows that the Government has not yet responded to the request that several Member States made on the previous occasion when the issue was discussed, when all those who intervened did so to request an evaluation of the economic, practical and legal impact of any modification. .

The acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has defended in front of the rest of the ministers that Spain is willing to assume the entire cost of the recognition of the three co-official languages, despite the fact that the inclusion in the European regulation that The Government asks to modify the assumption that the translation and interpretation of these languages ​​would be financed from the community coffers.

After this second debate at the level of EU ministers, Spain plans to distribute a "revised" proposal that addresses the concerns expressed by the rest of the member states, especially regarding legal doubts and cost. In addition, the European Commission has been commissioned to present an evaluation of the cost of each of the languages, sources familiar with the debate have told Europa Press.