General aspects: Basque as a “regional or minority” European language
Basque is the native language of the Basque Country and, as article 6 of the Statute of Autonomy (1979) states, it is the official language of Euskadi in conjunction with Spanish. In view of its official status, the Basque Government has been striving to standardise its use within the Basque Country and to promote recognition and respect for the language elsewhere.
As regards Europe, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages approved by the Council of Europe (Strasbourg, 5/11/1992) represents an international instrument of vital importance in bringing about standardisation, recognition and respect for languages in need of special protection, such as Basque. The aforementioned European Charter was ratified by the Spanish state on 2/2/2001.
As far as the promoting and safeguarding of regional and minority languages and cultures in the European Union (EU) is concerned, according to the EU’s European Charter of Fundamental Rights, “the Union respects cultural … and linguistic diversity”. In this respect, the following are among the most noteworthy measures to be adopted with a view to protecting regional or minority languages in the EU:
a) The support given by the EU to the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages (EBLUL) .
b) The passing of resolutions and opinions by the European Parliament (EP) and the Committee of the Regions CoR), the most recent of which include:
c) The possibility of the limited recognition of its use within EU institutions, as detailed in the following section.
The Official Status of Basque in the European Union
In Euskadi both the Basque Parliament (Plenary Agreement dated 21/2/1992 concerning the recognition of the Basque language as an official language in the institutions of the European Community) and the Basque Government, through a variety of official statements and declarations, along with other authorities, have been pressing for Basque to be recognised as an official language within the EU that enjoys the same status as the official languages recognised in EEC Council: Regulation Nº. 1/1958 determining the languages to be used by the European Economic Community.
The Council conclusion of 13 June 2005 on the official use of additional languages within the Council and possibly other institutions and bodies of the European Union granted limited official recognition of the use of Basque and other languages in the EU, although they did not receive the full official status enshrined in Regulation No. 1/1958.
The Spanish state has used this Conclusion as the foundation for reaching administrative agreements with a number of EU institutions and bodies permitting the use of official languages other than Spanish in the State:
This new legal framework enables the official use, albeit limited, of Basque in the European Union. There are three main aspects in the limited official status of Basque:
- The drafting in Basque of written correspondence from citizens to the institutions and bodies of the EU
As a result of the procedure defined for this purpose, the Basque Government’s European Affairs Bureau (DAE) is the body responsible for processing this correspondence. Where appropriate, it also processes responses from the corresponding institution or body of the EU to the citizen, formulating the original communication in Basque and attaching the corresponding certified translation of the text in Spanish or Basque respectively.
- Speeches and statements made in Basque at sittings of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament (EP) and the Committee of the Regions (CoR)
Requests must be made in advance and are, in all cases, conditional upon the requisite resources being available. The possibilities of using Basque in these institutions and bodies have increased significantly. First of all, the agreement reached at the Conference on European Community Affairs (CARCE) dated 9/12/2004 opened up the possibility of direct autonomous representation in the Council. Furthermore, although regulations governing elections to the European Parliament do not recognise regional electoral districts, some of the MEPs are Basque and can speak Basque. Finally, there is also Basque representation on the Committee of the Regions, namely the Lehendakari (the president of the Basque Government) and the Lehendakari’s Commissioner for External Relations (deputy).
- Publication in Basque of EU legislation agreed by the consultation procedure by the European Parliament (EP) and the Council of Europe
For these purposes, the Basque Government sends a certified translation in Basque of the legislation agreed by the consultation procedure to both institutions through the Department for Autonomous Affairs at the Permanent Representative of Spain to the European Union (REPER). This translation is kept on the files of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe and is available on the internet. It should be pointed out, however, that the version in Basque lacks legal force, as only texts published in the Official Journal of the European Union in languages recognised as official by EEC Council: Regulation Nº. 1/1958 determining the languages to be used by the European Economic Community are considered authentic.
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