The Catalan Minister for Foreign Action and European Union, Meritxell Serret i Aleu, travelled to Brussels today to continue defending the official status of the Catalan language in the European institutions, on the occasion of the session of the General Affairs Council of the European Union. This is Serret’s ninth visit to Brussels since she took office.

The Minister appeared following intensified talks with all the European Union Member States over the past few weeks to answer any questions regarding official status.

“We will not allow the Spanish Government to delay this initiative unnecessarily, and we will not lower our standards,” warned Serret. “We will continue to ask for maximum rigour, maximum dedication and maximum commitment so that this proposal is finally approved unanimously in the General Affairs Council of the European Union,” she stated.

Minister Serret wanted to highlight the work carried out by the Government of Catalonia and the delegations abroad in recent weeks, which she defined as “a very intense, ambitious and highly positive diplomatic campaign”. “Not only are there no vetoes, but there is a very good predisposition to listen, to learn about the proposal, and to be able to exchange arguments and reinforce those in favour,” she explained. “We have found a great deal of understanding and even appreciation for the efforts the Catalan Government is making to explain the proposal and help them truly see why it is a long-standing claim, why it is a sound proposal”.

The Minister wanted to ease everyone’s mind, remarking that “the proposal is moving forward, it is still on the table and very much alive, and therefore we will continue working with the same intensity and with the same dedication and effort until it is approved”.

Even so, the Minister expressed her concern because some States “have expressed their dissatisfaction with the manner in which the Spanish Government has put forth the proposal” that was to be discussed today by the Council, and sent out the reminder that “it is essential to maintain credibility and be aware that all steps are important to gain the confidence of all States”. “We demand that work continue with the utmost rigour,” said Serret, and insisted: “We will not lower our ambition or our demands before the Spanish Government”.

“We will also convey to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, within the framework of the dialogue that we maintain, the warning and the demand that we must work as hard as possible, that we must be careful, that we must also avoid any action that could generate doubts about the credibility, about the soundness, of the proposal,” she stressed. And she mentioned yet again that “the Spanish Government will have fulfilled its commitment when the proposal has been definitively approved and the official status of Catalan in the European institutions becomes a reality”.