President Pere Aragonès i Garcia, and the Minister for Foreign Action and European Union, Meritxell Serret i Aleu, held a meeting today with the vice-president of the European Commission and head of the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, Maroš Šefčovič, to exchange views on the official status of Catalan in European institutions.

Aragonès and Serret reiterated that the Government is entirely at the disposal of the European Commission, which is preparing reports on the economic costs, to provide information on any aspect that may be needed.

Together with Commissioner Šefčovič, they addressed the drought in Catalonia and the country's contributions to the objectives of the European Green Deal, with a focus on green hydrogen to decarbonise the Catalan economy, the approval of taxes on vehicle emissions and emissions from large polluting ships, and the deployment of infrastructure to achieve more sustainable mobility.

The European Green Deal aims to improve people's well-being through a road map aimed at making Europe climate-neutral by 2050.

Speech by Minister Serret at the European Parliament

Minister Serret also spoke this afternoon in the debate on the priorities of the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union, which took place within the framework of the plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions at the European Parliament. This is one of the six plenary sessions organised annually by the Committee for its members to express their opinion on European Union legislation that may have an impact at the regional and municipal levels.

In her speech, Serret stressed that Catalonia will support the Belgian presidency in order to advance the main priorities of the European project. "We are here to strengthen European integration and cohesion, hand in hand with the democratic and founding principles of the European Union," she said. Along these lines, she stressed the importance of combating fascism and populism in the run-up to the European Parliament elections, which will take place next June.

The Minister for Foreign Action also made reference to the defence of the official status of Catalan in European institutions, which is a priority for the Catalan government: "We will stand firm to guarantee the rights of millions of European citizens and for Catalan to be recognised as an official language in Europe".

The minister recalled the commitment of the Generalitat de Catalunya to protect the democratic principles that contribute to a fairer world: "We are here to defend European citizens who in Spain still suffer imprisonment, exile, judicial and economic persecution, disqualification, political espionage, and judges who manipulate the law".

Catalonia will also stand alongside the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union to "promote more politics, more democracy, more welfare, and more human rights. Especially in view of the upcoming European elections," concluded Serret.

Up to 14 meetings with 10 members of the European Commission in less than 2 years

With this trip, the Catalan government will have held up to 14 meetings with 10 members of the European Commission in less than two years. To be precise, this is the sixth time in one year and two months that the Government has travelled to Brussels to intensify relations with the European Union at all levels.

President Aragonès and Minister Serret held two high-level meetings with the European Commission in Brussels to reinforce collaboration with the European Union's executive. Specifically, they met with the European Commission Vice-President for Democracy and Demography, Dubravka Šuica, and the European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, to discuss some of the challenges facing the European Union, such as the ageing population and climate change.

In addition, Aragonès and the Minister for Economy, Natàlia Mas Guix, also met with the European Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, with whom they discussed the effective deployment of the NextGenerationEU funds and the implementation of the new tax rules.