Our official languages, also in Europe

The Spanish national identity is multilingual. Languages ​​don't divide; languages ​​are bridges; Spaniards live and coexist in Spanish, Catalan, Basque, and Galician. Language isn't just spoken; language is lived, language is inhabited. We think, communicate, and relate to each other in our own languages. That's why we always return to our own languages, like returning home.

Spanish unites us with more than six hundred million people with whom we share ideas, values, human ties, and a cultural background upon which we build our way of seeing and interacting in the world. For this reason—because it is part of our national identity—the promotion of Spanish is one of the priorities of our foreign policy. And for exactly this reason, because they are also part of our national identity, Catalan, Basque, and Galician must be official languages ​​of the European Union. More than twenty million Spaniards, 40% of our country, live in autonomous communities with several co-official languages. In Catalan, in Basque, and in Galician, we also exist, we also organize ourselves, we also project ourselves, we also recognize and live together as Spaniards. This is the reality of Spain, this is the identity of our country, enshrined in our Constitution, whose preamble declares the will to "protect all Spaniards and peoples of Spain in the exercise of their human rights, their cultures and traditions, languages, and institutions" and which reiterates, in Article 3, that "the richness of the different linguistic modalities of Spain is a cultural heritage that shall be the object of special respect and protection." It is a recognition of our identity, but it is also a mandate to the public authorities.

The Spanish identity is multilingual, languages ​​do not divide, they are bridges

For the Government of Spain, protecting and promoting our languages ​​is, therefore, an obligation, a response to this constitutional mandate. Thus, what is strange is not that the Government or the Minister of Foreign Affairs defend our national identity; what is strange, what is anomalous would be not doing so, in violation of the constitutional mandate. But for this Government, the recognition of our languages ​​is not only an obligation; it is also a profoundly democratic and profoundly civic conviction. Democratic because it stems from respect for the Spanish people, for all of them, as they are, as we are, and as we live every day. Civic, because on this linguistic richness we have built our coexistence in a real Spain that is free precisely in the recognition of plural identity.

From this conviction, we embarked on the path toward official status in Europe for Catalan, Basque, and Galician. This is an unavoidable path because we cannot renounce our national identity; an irreversible path because it goes beyond a temporary moment. Spain cannot be governed by turning its back on more than twenty million Spaniards and the Spanish Constitution.

This is also an aspiration protected by the Treaty of the European Union itself, which states, in Article 3.3, that "the Union shall respect the richness of its cultural and linguistic diversity" and establishes, in Article 4, the obligation for the Union to respect the national identity of the Member States. It is, in any case, a political decision, given that, as indicated in Article 342 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, "the linguistic regime of the Union shall be determined by the Council by means of regulations, acting unanimously." This is a legitimate aspiration, in accordance with the treaties, and one that should not cause any concern for our partners, as we have established criteria that prevent it from setting a precedent for any state that does not wish to do so. Spain assumes all the costs of the three languages, and we have made clear, with a solid legal report, our compliance with European regulations. Spain respects and supports the national identity of all EU Member States, and we expect the same respect and support from our European partners for our national identity.

We must walk the path to official status together; we must promote it, in Spain and in Europe, with all political parties and parliamentary groups. We must do so united in defense of our Constitution and with pride in our national identity.

More than ten million Europeans speak Catalan, many more than other official languages ​​of the European Union. Some three million Europeans speak Galician. Almost a million speak Basque. If we want a strong Europe, we must also want a Europe of its citizens. The businesswoman or worker in Lleida who uses Catalan in their daily lives deserves for their language to be an official language in Europe. The teacher in Lalín who goes to school every morning to build the future of our children deserves for their language to be an official language in Europe. The family in Zumaia who has always spoken Basque deserves for their language to be an official language in Europe. Catalan, Galician, and Basque must be official languages ​​in Europe because more than twenty million Europeans live in territories where these languages ​​are spoken, because all our languages ​​are profoundly European, and because European history and literature cannot be understood without Cervantes, but neither can it be understood without Salvador Espriu, Rosalía de Castro, or Bernardo Atxaga.

The road is now open and will not be closed again.