Sweden Expresses Doubts Over Incorporation Of Catalan, Galician And Basque As EU Languages

THE Government of Sweden has expressed doubts regarding the incorporation of Catalan, Basque and Galician as official languages ​​within the EU.

It made this acknowledgement on Wednesday, September 13, although Stockholm has yet to make a final decision on the proposal.

A study into the budgetary effects and operation that this initiative would imply must first be carried out, the Swedish administration insisted, reported niusdiario.es.

According to Jessika Roswall, the Minister of European Affairs, the Swedish government is ‘undecided’ regarding the possibility of modifying Regulation No. 1, which sets out the official languages ​​of the EU.

Stockholm needs time to study the initiative

Stockholm wants to first further examine what the ‘legal and financial’ consequences of the proposal could be. Roswall already pointed out that: ‘there are many minority languages ​​that are not official within the EU’.

In mid-August, the Spanish Government requested from the European Council that Catalan, Basque and Galician be incorporated into the regulations that regulate the linguistic regime.

This dates back to 1958 and includes 24 official languages. Any change in this number requires the unanimity of the 27 states that make up the bloc, so it cannot go ahead if a single member opposes it.

As the rotating presidency of the EU, Spain has included the matter on the agenda of the next Council of Ministers of General Affairs. It will be held next Tuesday 19, with the intention of having a debate and an eventual vote.

Diplomatic sources believe a rapid decision is unlikely

However, various diplomatic sources consulted by Europa Press considered it premature to assume that there could be such a rapid decision on this initiative since several partners have doubts about the cost of the measure and the way in which it may affect other minority languages ​​in the EU.

A recent proposal by the Government of Andorra on the requirement for resident YouTubers to learn Catalan has been scrapped.

During an interview last Tuesday with Catalunya Ràdio this Tuesday, Xavier Espot, the head of Andorra’s Executive explained that the measure ‘will not need to be extended to everyone’.

He has pointed out that ‘YouTubers’ are passive residents without lucrative activities. This means that even though they reside in the country they will not be forced to learn the language because they do not actively work in it, according to niusdiario.es.