Catalonia to offer 10 scholarships to College of Europe

The Catalan government will increase its College of Europe scholarships to ten annually after an agreement between president Salvador Illa and the school's rector, Federica Mogherini.

Until now, the Catalan government has only offered two grants annually, which allowed students who graduated from Catalan universities to attend the College of Europe.

The territory will now be Spain's regional territory, offering the highest number of scholarships to attend the College of Europe and will even surpass the number of subsidies granted from some EU member states, according to the cabinet.

The goal is to "strengthen relations" between Catalonia and the College and to "promote Catalan talent" in topics related to the European Union. The government wants to "increase Catalan presence in Europe." To do so, they are announcing more annual scholarships as a "bet to see more Catalan professionals in EU institutions."

After meeting with Mogherini, Illa visited the College in Bruges, where he "challenged the students to think about their role as the future generation to take the reins of the European project," according to a statement from the College.

"The power of force or the power of reason? These are the choices we face today. Catalonia and Europe must be on the side reason," Illa told students.

Use of Catalan language

During his visit he also defended that using the Catalan language in EU institutions would "reinforce the pro-European feelings of Catalans." He addressed students in English before meeting on Thursday with EU Council president António Costa. During the meeting with Costa, Illa will also focus on the need to use Catalan in EU institutions.

"We know it is not something easy, we know that it is not something that can be solved in one meeting, in one week, or in one month, but we have been for a long time involved in this issue, and we want to pursue it," he added.

Illa believes that it would send a "very strong sign" for European institutions "to recognize these languages," referring to Catalan, Basque, and Galician.

At the College of Europe speech, Illa also talked about the new political landscape worldwide and defended that those "who believe in European values do not bend."

For him, "Europe is much stronger than the ones that attack it" and called for "a new commitment to those who believe in democracy in defense of freedoms and peace."

Illa is currently in Brussels, accompanied by foreign affairs minister Jaume Duch. The minister is a former EU parliament spokesperson before joining Illa's cabinet.