European Union countries have once again postponed the decision to grant official EU language status to Catalan, Basque, and Galician, citing a lack of unanimity among member states.

It has been two years since Madrid formally submitted a proposal, needing the unanimous support of all 27 member states, to integrate Spain’s three most widely spoken minority languages into the EU’s linguistic framework. The EU’s European affairs ministers convened in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the proposal.

However, immediately following the meeting, Spanish government spokesperson Pilar Alegría stated at a press conference in Madrid that some countries had requested “more time and information.” Alegría added that Spain would “undoubtedly accept this request.”

Three major member states conveyed to Euractiv their reservations regarding the “cost and legal viability” of incorporating these three additional languages into the EU’s operational framework.

Currently, the use of Catalan, Basque, and Galician within EU institutions is regulated by administrative agreements between Spain and specific EU bodies. These languages may be used in institutional settings, including meetings or debates, provided that prior notification is given and approval is secured.

The European Commission estimates the annual cost for translating all EU legislation and employing interpreters and translators for the three languages to be approximately 132 million euros. Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares had previously indicated Spain’s willingness to cover these expenses entirely.

EU ministers had previously deferred a decision on this proposal following their meeting in September 2023.

Achieving official status for Catalan was a primary condition set by the Catalan right-wing separatist party Junts in exchange for the seven votes that secured Pedro Sánchez’s second term as prime minister.

This demand also garnered support from the leftist separatist party ERC in Catalonia, as well as Basque and Galician nationalist parties.

The Basque nationalist parties PNV and EH Bildu are seeking official EU status for Basque, and BNG in Galicia has a similar demand.

The use of co-official languages within Spain’s national institutions was approved in 2023 to permit “the use of languages that have official status in certain autonomous communities.”

Sánchez had assured Catalan separatists that the next move would be to guarantee Catalan’s official status as the EU’s 25th official language, yet he and his government have met with resistance from other European capitals.

Albares asserted on Tuesday that the official status of the three languages is a “matter of Spanish national identity,” and consequently, the EU “must protect the national identity of all member states.”

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the standard-bearer of the global “national-conservative” movement, will convene tomorrow in Budapest.

The CPAC Hungary event aims to mark the European right’s “transition to activism and proactivity.” This statement was made by the director of the “Center for Fundamental Rights,” the organizer of CPAC Hungary.

Speakers at the event, established in 2022 as an extension of CPAC in the US, include leaders of the right-wing alliance Patriots for Europe (PfE), which currently forms the third-largest group in the European Parliament and includes the French National Rally (RN), the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), the Italian Lega, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s party Fidesz.

Right-wing politicians from North and South America, Australia, and Israel are also expected to attend the event. Among its aims is the creation of a global network. This year’s CPAC, emboldened by the prospect of Trump’s return to the White House, has declared its goal to “conquer Brussels” after the White House.

CPAC: From a marginal Republican organization to a global network

CPAC has been organized by a Republican group in the US since 1974.

Initially designed as a networking meeting with a limited number of participants, the conference transformed into a major event with thousands of guests starting in the 2000s.

Aligned with Trumpian Republicans for over a decade, the conference offers its activists and supporters an opportunity to come together, exchange ideas, and develop relationships.

Since the beginning of US President Donald Trump’s first term in 2017, the event’s organizers have been working to expand their structures worldwide.

CPAC was established in Japan in 2017, in South Korea, Australia, and Brazil in 2019, in Mexico and Israel in 2022, and in Argentina in 2024.

In 2019, the organizers of the original CPAC began exploring Budapest to create an impact in Europe, and the first CPAC Hungary finally took place in 2022.

Organized by the Center for Fundamental Rights (Alapjogokért Központ) in Budapest, the event is held annually. Founded in 2013, the Center for Fundamental Rights operates on the basis of “national identity, sovereignty, and Christian traditions” and is an organization close to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Conquering Brussels after the White House

While CPAC Hungary has primarily focused on bringing together right-wing activists, publicists, and politicians from around the world, things seem to be starting to change.

While the events in 2022 and 2023 primarily aimed at strengthening and connecting their own structures (the slogan for 2023 was “Together we are strong”), CPAC 2024 is cautiously signaling a move towards an offensive.

Miklós Szánthó, director of the Center for Fundamental Rights, the organizer of CPAC Hungary, explains that under the slogan “Woke slayers – let’s drain the swamp,” the organization has become “a bit more combative,” and the focus has shifted to “a transition to activism and proactivity.”

Szánthó states, “We must take the lead… . We must disrupt the liberals’ plans.” Regarding this year’s CPAC and its slogan (“The Age of Patriots”), Szánthó argues that “they must usher in the age of patriots, and they can only do this together.”

The Hungarian organizer, pointing out that a social concept they believe in has reached the White House across the Atlantic, also notes that in Europe, there is now a “very distinct right-wing movement” that is no longer limited to “small or even fragmented parties.”

Recalling that these parties are already in power in Italy, Szánthó emphasizes that there is also a strong right-wing current in Spain, France, and Germany, and underlines that their goal is the “conquest of Brussels.”

Ensuring the right’s victory as the status quo collapses

Szánthó explains that this year’s CPAC Hungary is taking place in a “new situation,” referring to the rise of the right in Europe and other Western countries.

“The status quo is collapsing,” says the Hungarian official, arguing that this situation clearly stems from the “Trump tsunami.”

“Our American friends are currently at the forefront of changing the status quo,” says Szánthó, while also pointing out the importance of Americans understanding that the strengthening of the European right in alliance with them is in their own interest.

According to Szánthó, the victory of the European right also guarantees the success of the American right.

Europe’s new right meets

Among the right-wing forces within the EU, CPAC Hungary is particularly close to the Patriots for Europe (PfE) party. PfE is the third-largest faction in the European Parliament with 84 members.

Politicians from various PfE member parties have been announced as speakers at CPAC Hungary. These include former Frontex head Fabrice Leggeri, who is a member of the French RN, Herbert Kickl, the leader of the Austrian right-wing FPÖ, Santiago Abascal from Spain’s Vox party, and Afrodíti Latinopoúlou from Greece’s Foní Logikís party.

Former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (PiS) and former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) will also attend the conference. Additionally, Krzysztof Bosak, Deputy Marshal of the Sejm from Poland’s Konfederacja (Confederation) party, will be present.

Hungary will be represented by several government members, including Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó. Many Republican politicians from the US will also attend the conference. Among the Americans are well-known publicists like Ben Shapiro.

Israel’s Likud party to be in Budapest

Israeli politicians have also been announced to speak at CPAC Hungary. At the PfE summit held in February, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party, Likud, received official observer status in PfE.

According to CPAC, Israeli Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli will travel to Budapest. Chikli caused protests in Europe in July 2024 by speaking in favor of Marine Le Pen and her party RN before the French parliamentary elections.

In early December, he also caused great outrage by expressing sympathy for right-wing candidate Călin Georgescu, who, after the first round of presidential elections in Romania, announced that he would move his country’s embassy to Jerusalem if he won.

Georgescu had praised Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the historical leader of Romanian fascists, as a “hero”; Codreanu’s Legionary Movement was involved in numerous murders, including the massacre of Romanian Jews.

Other speakers include the prime minister’s son, Jair Netanyahu, and Likud MK Ariel Kallner.

Following the October 7 Al-Aqsa Flood Operation, Kallner had called for a “Gaza Nakba” that would “overshadow the Nakba of ’48.”

Latin America’s dictatorship sympathizers also come to Europe

Other notorious right-wingers are also attending the event. The participation of José António Kast from Chile’s “far-right” Partido Republicano de Chile has also been announced.

Kast is considered the Chilean political counterpart of Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro and Argentina’s Javier Milei. The Chilean right-winger has expressed sympathy for former dictator Augusto Pinochet in the past and received more than 44% of the votes in the second round of the presidential elections in Chile in 2021.

Kast will run again in the next presidential elections at the end of this year.

Among those planning to attend in Budapest are Raúl Latorre, President of the Paraguayan Chamber of Deputies and member of the conservative Partido Colorado, and right-wing Argentine journalist Agustín Laje, who is close to Milei.

The US is increasing its military presence in Northern Europe in response to Russia building military bases near the borders of Finland and the Baltic countries.

According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Washington aims to make NATO more “lethal” by fortifying the alliance’s northeastern flank.

At the heart of these efforts is the American military, despite statements from the Donald Trump administration that raised doubts in Europe about the US commitment to NATO.

Strategic focus: Arctic and Baltics

According to the WSJ, the focus of US military planning is on the Arctic and Baltic countries, where access to maritime trade routes, territories, and energy resources will be vital for the West in a new era of geopolitical conflicts.

The US goal of increasing its military presence and conducting missions through exercises is twofold: to “deter” Moscow and to more tightly integrate allies in this strategic corner of Europe, including new NATO members Finland and Sweden.

Countries in the region are encouraging Europe’s efforts to rearm and increase defense spending.

Message from American general: “Orders haven’t changed”

Brigadier General Andrew Saslav, Deputy Commanding General for Maneuver of the US Army Europe and Africa, told the WSJ, “The orders I have received as the commander of the US Army have not changed.”

Saslav added that the question of future US participation in NATO “does not leave his mind,” but he has “been doing this job for too long to be distracted by political winds and messages that are not orders.”

Russia’s countermove: Leningrad Military District being strengthened

Russia plans to turn the re-established Leningrad Military District in 2024 into a base against NATO.

Military bases, weapon and equipment depots, and an army headquarters to manage tens of thousands of soldiers are being built near the borders of Finland and the Baltic countries.

Small brigades will be approximately tripled in size to become divisions of 10,000 personnel.

New railway lines are being laid, and existing lines are being expanded along the Finnish and Norwegian borders, as well as south from St. Petersburg to the Estonian border.

“Russia could be ready for the Baltics soon”

Meanwhile, Michael Kofman from the Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Studies Center Berlin assessed, “If you ask how long it would take for the Russian military to be able to conduct a limited operation against the Baltic states, the answer could be ‘very soon.’”

During recent three-week exercises, American and British troops, along with units from Northern European and Baltic countries, worked on potential military operation scenarios in the region.

These scenarios included live-fire exercises, blood resupply using drones, and airborne operations beyond the Arctic Circle in Norway.

Christian Atland, a senior research fellow at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment and an advisor to the country’s armed forces, commented, “With Finland and Sweden as NATO members, we now have an unbroken stretch of NATO territory north of the Arctic Circle. The alliance’s expansion with the Nordic countries has also made it easier to send reinforcements to the Baltic states in the event of a military crisis or conflict in this region.”

Why is Gotland, the heart of the Baltic, critical?

One of Northern Europe’s most strategically important locations is Sweden’s Gotland Island, situated in the middle of the Baltic Sea, where reconnaissance equipment and long-range weapons can be deployed to establish dominance in air and sea operations.

Sweden’s former Supreme Commander Mikael Byden claimed last year that Moscow was watching Gotland “with both eyes.”

Stefan Lundqvist, head of the Swedish branch of the Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies in Alaska, stated that the island is likely to become a battlefield in the initial phase of a conflict due to its key military-strategic position.

Lundqvist added, “Because Russia’s strategic position in the Baltic Sea is very weak, in any conflict it would immediately try to seize key port areas in the Baltic states, Finland, and Poland.”

During recent exercises, American marines, after firing a HIMARS missile system in Norway, landed on Gotland Island with this system a few hours later. After completing their firing on the island, the troops were quickly moved to Finland.