According to the European Parliament Research Center, there are 60 minority and regional languages (RMLs) and 50 million people who speak them. However, the European Union only recognises the 24 main languages spoken in the Member States as official. The same happens in Spain, where until recently, the only language allowed to be spoken in plenary sessions was Spanish, despite having 4 official languages. Unlike these two cases, Luxembourg writes its laws in German, debates them in Luxembourgish, and codifies them in French. 

A push for de-centralisation in Spain pushed the government into implementing the remaining three co-official languages into parliamentary life, but this has raised serious issues regarding what we understand as languages. See, some sectors believe that these languages were recognised as co-official in the constitution of 1978 due to the fact that Galicia, Catalonia, and the Basque Country were the only Autonomous Communities with enough influence to push for their officialisation, while others like Aragonese and Asturian were left behind. So this poses the question; What makes a language a language?

The answer, to this day, still needs to be determined. Let’s take Asturian, for instance. One quick search on the Academy of Asturian Language (Academia de la Llingua Asturiana) will tell you that Asturian is, in fact, a language. But a quick trip to Asturias will let you know that for many, it’s simply a dialect. Many Asturians use Asturians to communicate with family or friends but switch to Spanish in official situations, such as the hospital or the bank. According to scholar Claudia Elena Menéndez Fernández, what Asturian is missing is official status within the Autonomous Community. The Constitution of 1978 recognises the right of AACC to have their own Statute of Autonomy, which Asturias passed in 1981 without recognising Asturian as a language. The main reason for this is the historical repression of RMLs in Spain, starting with the Catholic Kings in the XV century and following with dictator Francisco Franco’s total ban on RMLs between 1935 and 1975. Due to this historical background, languages with no major impulse like Aragonese and Asturian have been relegated to being an optional subject in school.

So should RMLs be allowed to be spoken in democratic institutions? Spanish MP Jorge Pueyo believes so. Ever since the co-official languages were admitted in El Congreso de los Diputados (the lower chamber of parliament) he has been speaking in Aragonese, a language spoken in the Northern Aragonese province of Huesca, despite the Congreso not providing translation services for it. According to him, given that there is no clear distinction between dialect and language, and no criteria for a language to be recognised as official, all languages spoken in a territory should be recognised as official languages in the territory. 

But then there’s the matter of logistics. Very few people speak Extremeño or Fala (about 150.000). Should the Congreso bother looking for official interpreters if only one MP decides to speak in that language? Not to speak about the budget; 279.849€ untile the end of 2023. Same goes for the European Parliament. It is a logistical nightmare to find qualified interpreters for the 60 RMLs of Europe. So should democratic institutions start implementing interpretation services for all RMLs? Only for official languages? What if unofficial RMLs get official status? 

As a minority language speaker myself, I believe in the way language shapes how we think and the power of speaking more than one language. I know the feeling of a mother tongue being disrespected or used as a political weapon, that is why I was so glad when I heard that I would start hearing the representatives that I elect to represent my interests speaking the same language that feels like home to me. It is time for us to normalise the use of minority languages, because just because few people speak it does not mean that those people cease to exist, and we deserve to make our voices heard in the houses of parliament around the world.