The PNV MEP Oihane Agirregoitia has presented to the Prime Minister of Ireland, Micheál Martin, the aspiration of Euskadi to emulate the Irish path for Basque to obtain the status of official language in the European Union.
Agirregoitia, along with the rest of the MEPs from the Renew Europe group, held a meeting last Monday with the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland and President of Fianna Fáil, Micheál Martin, during a working meeting of the centrist group of the European Parliament held in the Irish town of Cork. The objective of the meeting, as detailed by the PNV, was to advance the group's common positions on the main challenges of the community agenda.
The event took place at Fota House, where the Irish leader, who will assume the task of coordinating work in the Council of the EU, detailed the political priorities set from July 1, the date on which Ireland will take over the six-monthly presidency of the Union. Martin summarized these lines of action in "competitiveness, security, and defense of European values."
The European Commissioner responsible for Democracy, Justice, Rule of Law and Consumers, Michael McGrath, was also present at the meeting, accompanying the Irish Prime Minister during the working session.
In a statement, Agirregoitia stressed that Ireland will soon assume the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU and remarked that, for this reason, "it has been an unbeatable opportunity to hear first-hand the priorities that have been set on the European agenda."
According to her, "The European Union must respond ambitiously to the challenges it faces, and what the Prime Minister of Ireland has conveyed to us is that his objective is to advance an agenda that strengthens our economy, strengthens European values, and shows citizens that we are focused on the issues that matter to people."
The jeltzale MEP added that they "fully" share these lines of action and expressed confidence that "the next six months will be fruitful and help us continue to advance in the Europe we want to build."
During the meeting, Agirregoitia took the opportunity to reiterate to the Irish Prime Minister Euskadi's intention to follow Ireland's example and achieve Basque being recognized as an official language of the European Union, following the path taken by Irish Gaelic.
In a previous session of the European Parliament's Intergroup on Minorities and Languages, Agirregoitia had already had the opportunity to convey to the Irish minister Dara Calleary the objectives of Euskadi regarding the official status of Basque in the EU institutions.
"Ireland knows better than anyone what it means to achieve official status for its language. It wasn't that long ago that they made the request and succeeded, so it's a mirror in which to look at ourselves," Agirregotia has highlighted.