Spain ties Catalan, Basque and Galician official status to EU enlargement

Spain is linking the European Union’s future language decisions to its own long-standing demand: Catalan, Basque and Galician must become official EU languages before any new languages are added through the bloc’s enlargement process.

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strongly supports the enlargement process

The Spanish government says it strongly supports enlargement and considers the addition of official languages “very positive” because language recognition is closely tied to citizens’ sense of belonging to Europe. But the Foreign Ministry has made its condition explicit: Spain cannot accept new official EU languages unless Catalan, Basque and Galician are approved first.

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very positive

Secretary of State for the European Union Fernando Sampedro is expected to bring the issue to the General Affairs Council on Sept. 22. He said on July 14 that it was “a matter of time” before the three languages gained official EU status. The government lists their recognition among its highest priorities, after an earlier Spanish proposal was rejected in July 2025 for lack of unanimity.

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It is not possible for Spain to accept new official languages if the official status of Catalan, Basque and Galician has not first been approved.

Catalan, Basque and Galician already hold co-official status in Spain, alongside Spanish, the official language of the state. They can be used in public administration, education and local media. Catalan is spoken in Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands; Galician in Galicia; and Basque in the Basque Country and Navarre. More than 10 million people in Spain speak one of the co-official languages, according to 2021 data from the National Statistics Institute.

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a matter of time