“Always remember this, Sepharad.
Make the bridges of dialogue safe and try to understand and love your children's various reasons and speeches (...)".
These are the verses of a poem by Salvador Espriu (A vegades és necessari i forçós from the book La pell de brau) with which the Catalan poet demanded that Spain (Sepharad in Hebrew) extend the bridges of dialogue with all communities and understand each other those who speak differently A poem that the socialist Francina Armengol, recently elected president of Congress, recited to vindicate the use of Catalan, Galician and Basque in the Lower House. Some verses read in Catalan and Spanish to announce that from now on the deputies will be able to speak, hitz egin and speak in their language. Also in Spanish. No one has said that it will stop being used in Congress, but yesterday's announcement seeks to recognize the plural nature of Spain and vindicates its official languages, which are already used in the Senate.
An old claim of the nationalist groups that had always come up against a difficult wall to save and that yesterday, as a result of the negotiations for the Table of Congress, it was possible to jump with the consensus of the 178 votes that Armengol managed to capitalize. The measure received with applause by the allies of the Socialists, was taken with extreme coldness by the parties of the right, although there was no fuss or anger. At the moment, they remain waiting to see how this proposal materializes.
Also in Europe, the official languages would have recognition. The commitment that Junts reached with the PSOE to unblock the negotiation contemplates including the "Spanish languages other than Castilian that enjoy official status in Spain" in the EU linguistic regime. A measure to give them an institutional character. It will take place in plenary session on September 19 when Pedro Sánchez goes to Brussels in the framework of the European presidency, a day marked in red by the post-convergents and which will mark the temperature of the negotiations for the investiture.
For some it may be aesthetic measures that will not help Catalan to be spoken more. They will say that there are other serious problems in the field of education or in the new ways of relating to each other that harm and are detrimental to the use of minority languages. And it is true, but without a doubt yesterday's is a step aimed at recognizing the wealth that Catalan, Basque and Galician contribute.
From now on, the paradox may arise that Catalan is spoken in Madrid and in Europe and is in clear decline in the territories governed by the PP in alliance with Vox, such as the Valencian Community or the Balearic Islands. Time will tell what language policies these communities apply, but their presidents have already announced measures aimed at reducing their use. It will be seen.
