Catalan demands push Sánchez against the EU language barrier

Receive free Spanish politics updates

We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Spanish politics news every morning.

Good morning. The EU has a new competition chief (for now) as Belgium’s Didier Reynders adds to his existing justice commissioner brief, following incumbent Margrethe Vestager’s unpaid leave to run for president of the European Investment Bank. Job number one: force these companies to comply with new obligations from today, including sharing data with rivals.

Today, Laura explains the Catalan language ultimatum before EU capitals that could determine the fate of Spain’s prime minister, and Belgium’s energy minister tells our correspondent that the US has leapfrogged the EU to become a green transition leader.

Lost in translation

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez’s bid to form a new coalition government with Catalan separatists faces its first big hurdle later this month when EU ministers are due to vote on whether to make Catalan an official language of the bloc, writes Laura Dubois.

Context: Sánchez is currently leading a caretaker government after inconclusive elections in July. In order to form a new government, his Socialist party needs to win the support of five small regional and separatist parties.

Together for Catalonia, or Junts, views the vote on September 19 as a crucial test of Sanchez’s trustworthiness and ability to deliver on his promises.

Yesterday, Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont in a speech in Brussels highlighted “the importance for the Catalan language of the recognition . . . as an official language of the European Union.” He added that this was needed “to ensure its survival”.

But EU diplomats fear this could lead to dozens of other linguistic minorities in the bloc drawing up similar demands in order to blackmail their member states. “It would set a dangerous precedent,” one diplomat said.

The diplomats also pointed to the costs of such a move, as translators already struggle to translate existing texts into the EU’s existing 24 official languages. If the member states unanimously approve Sánchez plan to make Catalan as well as Basque and Galician official EU languages, all of the bloc’s laws would have to be translated.

Puigdemont, who is in exile in Belgium following a 2017 independence referendum deemed illegal by judges, also demanded an amnesty for those imprisoned over the vote — another condition that will be hard to meet for Sánchez.

Puigdemont called for “the complete and effective abandonment of the judicial process against independence”, adding that this was “an ethical requirement” and “within reach” of the Spanish parliament.

The opposition People’s party (PP), which won the most votes in the election but does not have a clear prospect for a majority, called those demands “offensive”.

Chart du jour: Fusion goals

You are seeing a snapshot of an interactive graphic. This is most likely due to being offline or JavaScript being disabled in your browser.

Governments and private companies around the world are increasingly joining forces to make atomic fusion to produce zero-emissions energy a reality. Germany, which has been called the “sleeping giant” of the technology, yesterday announced additional funding for the industry.

Green gap

Belgium’s energy minister Tinne Van der Straeten has warned that Washington has turned the tables on Brussels as the US pulls ahead on net zero technologies, writes Alice Hancock.

Context: The US last year launched the Inflation Reduction Act, a $390bn package of tax credits and subsidies, that has tempted dozens of EU companies to reconsider their investments in the bloc.

“The US were lagging behind for a long time,” Van der Straeten told the FT in an interview. But “now it is changing”, she said, adding that EU countries need to co-ordinate better in their efforts to accelerate the growth of carbon-cutting technologies.

“What I’m . . . concerned about is about lack of planning and co-ordination between different countries, different projects, connecting all these different projects to each other,” she added.

Her comments come as two reports on the EU’s progress on its overarching Green Deal climate law are published today, calling for additional funding into the energy transition.

Brussels-based think-tank Bruegel in its report finds that the EU is currently spending €50bn on green grants per year, but must deploy another €180bn in fresh money between 2024 and 2030 to make up an “annual shortfall” that is needed to reach net zero.

The other report, from think-tank Strategic Perspectives, paints a more positive picture. It points out that in 2022 the EU invested $180bn in net zero technologies, the second highest level of investment among leading regions in green projects.

But policymakers warn that the EU risks slipping further from its former leadership position if it does not increase investment in clean tech.

Van der Straeten also said it was a way to guarantee energy security and cut the bloc off from its previous reliance on Russian fossil fuels. “The best you can do is invest in renewable energy,” she said.

What to watch today

1. Romania president Klaus Iohannis, his Polish and Lithuanian counterparts Andrzej Duda and Gitanas Nausėda, and Croatian prime minister Andrej Plenković meet in Bucharest, Romania.

2. Think-tank Bruegel holds its annual conference in Brussels.

Now read these