European Schools to Introduce Catalan as an Elective Subject at Spanish Government’s Request

Brussels – On Thursday, the Board of Governors of the European Schools approved the Spanish Government’s request to offer optional classes in Catalan for students, primarily the children of officials working in European institutions.

As confirmed by community sources to EFE Agency, the agreement specifies that Spain will bear the full cost of the teachers’ salaries for these classes.

The European Schools were established to ensure that the children of officials could receive an education in their native language, provided it is an official language of the EU. Students are also expected to learn four other EU languages during their education.

Additionally, the curriculum includes Other National Languages (ONL) as an optional subject for students whose countries have multiple languages in their educational framework, such as Maltese or Irish, even if these languages are not officially recognized by the EU.

With this new agreement, Catalan will be classified as an ONL, allowing students to take it as an optional subject starting at age 4, regardless of the number of interested students.

It is important to note that this decision by the Board of Governors – which was approved despite Italy’s opposition – is separate from the ongoing discussions regarding the official status of Catalan, Basque, and Galician in the EU, which the Spanish Government is advocating for, albeit without success to date.

Several countries, particularly in the east, have expressed political, economic, and legal concerns about granting official status to the co-official languages of Spain. Since Spain shifted out of the rotating EU presidency in January 2024, no advancements have been made on this issue.

In parallel, the Spanish Government is working to enable MEPs who wish to do so to use any of these three languages within the European Parliament. (April 10).