No thanks from Brussels

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Jason Moore21/09/2023 12:07

The European Union has rejected an appeal from the acting Spanish government to make Catalan (spoken widely across the Balearics, Mallorcan is a dialect of Catalan), Galician and Basque official languages. It would have involved translating most European Union material into the three languages.

The acting Spanish government led by Pedro Sanchez had been hoping that Brussels would give the proposal the green light because they are courting the Catalan and Basque nationalists in their bid to form a new government. One of the chief supporters of the proposal is the new Speaker of the Spanish parliament, former Balearic leader Francina Armengol. Just this week the Spanish parliament held a debate in the three regional languages. However, translation services had to be provided for some MPs.

Mallorcan is a dialect of Catalan and is widely spoken and taught in local schools on the island.