The government maintains its intention to promote Catalan in the EU despite yesterday's setback.

The official status of Catalan, Basque, and Galician in the European Union will have to wait again. At least until Madrid resolves the doubts expressed by a group of at least seven countries that still need clarification on financial and legal issues.

However, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares assured yesterday that Spain will continue working to achieve unanimity and pledged to maintain calls with the Foreign and European Affairs ministers, who continue to have questions.

"We want to do it quickly and succinctly," added EU Secretary of State Fernando Sampedro in the afternoon, who defended the issue at the EU General Affairs Council.

The next meeting is scheduled for June 24, so the timeframe is tight if Spain decides to put it to a vote again.

Asked about the matter, Adam Szlapka, Poland's Minister of European Affairs (which holds the rotating EU presidency), stated that he would see no problem reintroducing it to the agenda whenever Spain requests it.

The Secretary of State does not yet know if they would be willing to bring the proposal back to him next month.

The Secretary of State, however, does not want to clarify for the moment whether they would be willing to try again next month or prefer to wait until the matter has matured and more doubts can be resolved during the next six months.

Starting in July, the presidency will fall to Denmark, a country governed by Social Democrat Mette Frederiksen, an ally of Pedro Sánchez who should have no problem helping Madrid on this matter. In fact, Danish Minister of European Affairs Marie Bjerre was one of the few representatives who told the press yesterday that they were ready to adopt the Spanish proposal.

"We are starting work today to continue our contacts with the Member States. Our ambition is for this to be resolved as soon as possible," Sampedro noted. On this occasion, Spain requested the introduction of this debate on May 9, three weeks before this Tuesday's summit.

On this occasion, Spain requested the introduction of this debate on May 9, three weeks before this Tuesday's summit, and, as promised, kept the item on the agenda for adoption by the EU General Affairs Council. However, as happened in September 2023, the vote was never taken. This time, it was Poland—which holds the rotating EU presidency this semester—that decided to postpone the vote because several ministers raised their voices to demand that Spain resolve these issues before putting it to a vote.

Minister Albares speaks of seven reluctant States, but other diplomatic sources say there are a dozen.

"Now it's Spain's job to clarify this," said Polish Minister of European Affairs Adam Szlapka.

Spain accepted the postponement and promised to continue working with skeptical countries to try again as soon as possible. Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares announced that he would immediately contact his counterparts in the seven countries with doubts, while also stating that the remaining twenty (including Spain) were ready to adopt a decision that requires unanimity.

However, various European diplomatic sources indicate that there are at least a dozen reluctant member states that are not ready to adopt this issue if it ends up being put to a vote in the short term.

Among the skeptics are important players on the European stage. Like Germany, now governed by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who belongs to the European People's Party (EPP) political family. Gunther Krichbaum, Minister of State for Europe, was the first to speak out strongly against the proposal, after being defended by the Spanish Secretary of State for the EU, Fernando Sampedro, who was sent by Spain to try to push this proposal forward. In these kinds of meetings, speaking first carries a high level of significance and dictates the rest of the conversation.

Ministers from Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Finland, and Sweden also expressed concerns. "I hope we don't have to vote today," said Finnish Minister for European Affairs Joakim Strand upon arriving at the meeting. "There are still concerns from the Council's legal service," he added, "and this is something we must take very seriously."

Four countries—Romania, Belgium, Slovenia, and Portugal—took the floor to openly declare themselves in favor of Spain, while others, such as Malta and Denmark, are also in favor. The ever-diplomatic France, for its part, is pleased not to be among the opposing bloc, although behind closed doors, the French delegation also didn't see the need for its approval this week.

The unresolved issues are, on the one hand, financial. Although Spain has committed to paying the technical and material costs involved in recognizing the three languages, there are still those who fear that another government of a different political persuasion will refuse to cover these costs in the future. The European Commission estimated in a preliminary report that it would be €132 million, a rough estimate based on estimates for Gaelic, the last language to be granted official status.

On the other hand, there are countries that are skeptical of Spain's argument that the opinions of the Council's legal services—which have doubts about whether the treaties should be reopened to add these three languages—are not binding. This is an extremely sensitive issue among the 27 Member States.

Albares argued that the government has already submitted a "very solid report" regarding the "full compatibility of the Spanish proposal with the treaties" and argued that the opinion of the Council's legal services is merely "one more opinion." "I myself have personally heard from legal experts from many Member States who agree with us that there is no legal obstacle," Sampedro maintained in Brussels.

The feeling in the EU capital is that Spain has tried to rush this latest attempt. The pressure on the capitals by Pedro Sánchez's administration has undoubtedly helped many delegations understand the political importance of the issue. But among the reticent, some are annoyed with a style that they believe has been too aggressive, and they demand that the underlying issues be addressed with sufficient time.

The refusal isn't categorical, but they recommend education regarding legal and financial matters. And also patience.