The Minister for Foreign Action and European Union, Meritxell Serret i Aleu, held meetings in Madrid today with three ambassadors from EU Member States to present the Government's arguments in favour of the official status of Catalan in European institutions.

After the day of meetings, Minister Serret stressed that "we are aware that there are no vetoes, but there is still work to be done to generate the necessary consensus, which requires the unanimity of all EU member states". 

In this regard, the Minister explained that the Government is acting on three different levels to intensify political contacts with European governments. Firstly, in Barcelona and Madrid with contacts with the consular corps and embassies. Secondly, through the Government delegations abroad located in member states, which are establishing contacts in the capitals of the various countries. Thirdly, through the Government Delegation to the European Union, which is coordinating a large part of the strategy, and is establishing meetings with permanent representations of the member states to the European Union. 

The arguments that the Government is putting forward to the interlocutors of European governments include the technical and legal soundness of Catalan which should facilitate its incorporation as an official language into the European Union; the solvency of Catalan when it comes to assuming the logistics of officialdom in terms of translations, among other aspects; and the exceptional nature of Catalan as a language which – just like Basque and Galician – is recognised as official in Spain but not in the European Union as yet.

Serret also met today in Madrid with the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, with whom she discussed the coordination of the political strategy to move towards the recognition of the official status of Catalan in European institutions. The minister stated that, “we are on the same page as the Ministry", but "we will not reduce our level of demands from the Spanish government because they are responsible for ensuring that the official status of Catalan is unanimously accepted".

On Friday, the international communication campaign will be presented from Brussels

Meanwhile, Minister Serret announced that she will travel to the European capital on Thursday to hold a new round of political talks with members of permanent representations to the European Union from different European states. 

She added that in Brussels she will present an international communication campaign by the Government, with an impact on a large number of member states, which will present the reasons for advocating the official status of Catalan in the European Union. “A communication campaign that seeks to galvanise public opinion in the various countries of the European Union, in order to win their sympathy". An action to influence European public opinion that began seven weeks ago with the publication of the opinion piece by President Aragonès in a number of international newspapers.