The Catalan government has endorsed Spain’s position that the expansion of the European Union should be linked to the official recognition of regional languages, including Catalan, provided such status is first granted within EU institutions.
Sílvia Paneque, Minister for Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition and spokesperson for the Generalitat de Catalunya (regional government), called it a "reasonable position" during her press briefing on Tuesday 8 September 2026, following the weekly executive council meeting.
Spain plans to reintroduce the issue at the Council of General Affairs in Brussels on 22 September 2026, after more than a year without discussion at the EU level. The last attempt, in July 2025, stalled due to opposition from several member states, including Germany [source].
Unanimity Required for Official Status
For Catalan, Basque or Galician to become official EU languages, all 27 member states must agree unanimously, according to EU rules [source]. Currently, there are 24 official EU languages, and no requirement exists that a language must be official across an entire member state’s territory to qualify.
Paneque stressed that it would be “strange” for the EU to approve official status for new candidate countries’ languages while not recognising Catalan, which already holds full official status in parts of the EU and is spoken by millions.
It would be strange to promote or approve the official status of other languages without first accepting Catalan.
The push for recognition aligns with a broader effort launched in August 2023 under the Spanish government’s agreement with Junts, aiming to secure co-official status for the three languages in EU institutions [source].
Catalan Already Used in Some EU Bodies
Citizens can already use Catalan when contacting certain EU institutions, including the European Commission, Parliament and Council, under administrative agreements between Spain and the EU [source]. However, responses are not required to be in Catalan unless full official status is achieved.
Advocates note that 11 smaller languages, including Irish and Maltese, already hold official status despite limited speaker numbers, reinforcing the argument for parity [source].
Primary sources: llengua.gencat.cat, data.consilium.europa.eu, govern.cat, eb.gencat.cat, Eva Pons i Katharina Jiménez Weese, presidencia.bibliotecadigital.gencat.cat, Departament de Política Lingüística. Generalitat deCatalunya. Reported by gentedigital.es, PRESSDIGITAL, europapress.es, racocatala.cat, elpais.com, eldiario.es, capital.es.
