Lithuanian president shows reluctance against making Catalan an official EU language

The president of Lithuania, Gitanas Nauseda, is reluctant to make Catalan an official EU language after the Spanish government has led four meetings to push the request forward.

In an interview published this Friday in 'El Mundo', the Lithuanian leader points out that accepting Catalan "could trigger a wave of similar requests to include more languages."

"I understand the issue for Spain, but we have to draw a line somewhere," he added.

Asked if the Lithuanian position is a 'no' to Catalan, Nauseda stated that he is "open" to accepting it as an official language "one day."

Yet, he tempered expectations, adding that "it is very difficult to imagine, for example, 100 languages in the European Council. It would be technically very demanding." 

Belgium wants to take issue forward

The Belgian ambassador to Spain, Geert Cockx, has assured that making Catalan, Galician, and Basque official languages is among the topics that the Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU wants to "take forward".

"We are a multilingual country, and multilingualism is very important to us," said Cockx.

Belgium took over the presidency of the EU at the beginning of January after Spain held it the prior six months

However, Belgium are waiting for various reports, before taking the issue forward.

In an event at the headquarters of the European institutions in Barcelona, Cockx said that Spain and the European Commission still have to clarify the "financial and legal consequences" of making these languages official.

"When we have the pending reports, of course we will move forward," the ambassador remarked.