Defending Catalan (Among Others)

I was reading a document I’d found that was published by the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC) on philological information on the language (spelling, grammar, pronunciation, etc.), and at the end I saw a section called “Defending Catalan in the European Union”.  This section was particularly fascinating because it presented, in list form, various reasons why those at the IEC wished Catalan to become an official language within the European Union.  At the moment, it is recognized (it has some status, but is not considered official by any means), but as it is not the primary language in any one member state, it is not given the status that many within Catalunya feel it deserves.

Here are some of the most notable reasons I found:

"Visca Catalunya Lliure!"

On the way to Ikea yesterday afternoon with my parents, I was listening to an episode of La Competència, my favorite radio program ever which airs on RAC1 in Catalunya (it is in Catalan), which I get through podcasts.  It was from last Tuesday,  and featured a discussion on an article written by Catalan journalist Quim Monzó for La Vanguardia, a Barcelona-based newspaper which publishes in Spanish (it's going to start publishing in Catalan in May).  It's an article about the coach for the Girona football team, Raül Agné, who walked out on a post-match press conference he was giving because he was told to answer a question in Spanish instead of Catalan, when the question had been asked in Catalan (something done all the time by journalists and coaches in press conference; if the coach speaks the language a question is asked in, he responds in that language).