Early in October, Scotland and the EU signed a formal agreement allowing Scottish Gaelic speakers to write directly to EU bodies in their mother tongue and receive a reply in that language. The deal was agreed through a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the UK’s EU ambassador, Sir Kim Darroch, and by Donald Henderson, Scotland’s EU director.
It also provides that Scottish Ministers will be authorized to use Scottish Gaelic at EU Council meetings. Within the Council, interpretation will be provided only from Scots Gaelic into English, and not the contrary.
The interpretation and translation costs will be covered by the Scottish Government.
Similar agreements currently exist for other languages such as Welsh, Catalan and Basque.