25.09.2026, Madrid.
Spain intends to veto the accession of new countries to the European Union unless Catalan, Basque, and Galician receive official EU-language status, turning the EU’s unanimity principle into a lever for addressing domestic political objectives, Rossa Primavera News Agency‘s Europe Desk notes .
On September 9, 2026, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, while in Brussels, stated clearly for the first time that Spain considers it “unthinkable” for new countries to join the EU and for new languages to be added before Catalan, Basque, and Galician receive official status. On September 21, at a meeting of the EU General Affairs Council, Spanish Secretary of State for European Affairs Fernando Sampedro officially presented this position at the EU level. He told journalists that Spain “hopes that this recognition can be achieved before other languages are added to the list of official EU languages.”
Madrid’s willingness to take such tough measures is explained almost exclusively by its domestic problems. The initiative to recognize Catalan, Basque, and Galician as official EU languages was a direct consequence of an agreement between the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, and Junts, a party operating primarily in the autonomous community of Catalonia, to secure support for Sánchez’s government in parliament.
Sánchez’s government is now nearing the end of its legislative term ahead of elections. Its coalition partners, particularly the Catalan ones, are criticizing Sánchez, and he needs tangible political victories to retain their support. The issue of financing for Catalonia is also the subject of intense negotiations, and concessions on the language issue are a sort of “payment” for regional support.
The EU’s decision-making mechanisms give Spain a theoretical possibility of exercising a veto, but in practice this would be extremely difficult. Changing the EU’s language regime and granting official status to three new languages requires a unanimous decision by all 27 member states. So far, Spain has failed to secure the necessary support. Germany and Italy are among the most influential opponents of the idea. Around a dozen countries in total have expressed doubts, concerned about the legal and financial consequences.
According to estimates by the European Commission, recognizing three new languages would cost approximately €132 million per year (about €44 million per language). Although Spain has offered to cover these costs itself, other countries are concerned that this could create long-term financial obligations for the EU budget as a whole.
Many states, particularly France and Italy, fear that this precedent would open a Pandora’s box. The EU has more than 60 regional languages, and recognizing them would require enormous expenditures. If Spain succeeds, similar demands could be made by other countries as well, for example, France, where Catalan and Basque are also spoken.
At the September 22 meeting of the EU General Affairs Council, several countries opposed the Spanish initiative, with Germany doing so particularly demonstratively. Germany, Sweden, and Lithuania publicly stated that linking EU expansion to the recognition of regional languages was “unacceptable.” Germany also noted that expansion is a “serious issue,” while the language dispute is a “secondary matter,” and called for the two not to be conflated.
Despite Madrid’s statements, Brussels has made clear that EU accession negotiations will continue. Ireland’s Minister for European Affairs Thomas Byrne, whose country holds the presidency of the Council of the EU, confirmed that work with Montenegro, Ukraine, Moldova, and Albania is proceeding as usual, and that the language issue is not part of the negotiations with Montenegro.
Spain has not officially announced a direct veto, but its rhetoric leaves that possibility open. However, experts believe that Montenegro’s actual accession date, no earlier than 2028, makes the threat irrelevant to the current agenda.
As of today, Spain has been left isolated. Its threat to block new countries joining the EU is perceived by its partners more as political pressure aimed at a domestic audience than as a genuinely feasible plan, rather than as a real political strategy. The most likely scenario is lengthy and difficult negotiations in which Spain will attempt to extract certain concessions but will not take matters as far as blocking new countries from joining the EU, so as not to damage relations with key partners. EU expansion will continue, while the language issue will remain frozen pending a possible change of government in Madrid.
