The Parliament has finally approved the law on the use and learning of the official languages in non-university education agreed by the four large groups of the Catalan Chamber (ERC, Junts, PSC and En Comú Podem). 76% of the parliamentary arch has given its approval to the norm that places Spanish as a curricular language after the text received the endorsement of the Consell de Garanties Estatutàries, in a report demanded by the three right-wing parties (Ciudadanos, Vox and PPC)
The Catalan Chamber has approved the law by 102 votes in favor (of socialists, independentists and common), 29 against (of PPC, Citizens, Vox and, for different reasons, of the CUP and 1 abstention, that of the deputy of Junts, Francesc Tern, responsible for the party's educational affairs In his speech at the debate, Tern warned of the meaning of his vote in solidarity with the activist Salvador Ribot, despite the "discrepancy" they maintain regarding the linguistic debate, which began on Friday a hunger strike in Celrà (Gironès) to safeguard Catalan in educational centers as a result of the ruling of the TSJC on 25%.
Just before the law was voted on, the agreement received the congratulations of the president of the Geneneralitat, Pere Aragonès, who intervened after the debate to thank the work of the parties that signed the agreement, as well as the main opposition group, the PSC, and to defend the agreement as a tool in favor of “preserving social cohesion”.
“We place Catalan as the backbone of the Catalan school in the face of the (judicial) risks that have occurred in recent years” and “we will continue working for a good that has to be above political positions, the social cohesion of our country.” promised the president.
Aragonès' intervention made it possible to open a speaking time for the rest of the parliamentary leaders, in which the head of the opposition, Salvador Illa, stressed the need to "reach consensus among different people", a consensus that "I would like it to be a point of departure”, he said, and for this reason he committed the implication of his party in the national pact for the Catalan planned for this year.
The president of the Junts parliamentary group, Albert Batet, appealed to the will to "continue conjuring us up so that the claws of justice leave the school" and to "provide adequate tools to the teaching teams", an "obligation of political to preserve the greater good of our children's education. Batet also demanded that the Government act "protecting the directors of the centers."
From the commons, Jéssica Albiach boasted that today "is a good day for Catalonia and for Catalans" and "for equal opportunities", compared to the "very few who move between self-hatred and classism". The leader attacked Cs, PP and Vox for "trying to divide us" with the language and sent them a warning: "Make no mistake, Castilian belongs to everyone, it is also our language."
Among the parties that are not in the consensus are two blocks, the one made up of PP, Cs and Vox, which will appeal the law before the Constitutional Court (TC), and the CUP. The anti-capitalists, from the mouth of the deputy Carles Riera, lamented that "curricular", an appellation that the law grants to Castilian, "is synonymous with vehicular", so that the rule "opens the door to the use of Castilian beyond learning", lament. "You (ERC and Junts) open the door to bilingualism and adapt the Catalan regulations to the main thesis of the TSJC: that Spanish must be the curricular and vehicular language," Riera criticized.
Citizens, Vox and PP agreed on the criticism of the law and the role of the PSC in the agreement. “Mr Illa, do you realize what ERC and Junts have said? This law is going to help them not to comply with the 25% of Spanish in our classrooms, something that the Constitution and the TSJC foresee, ”launched the leader of Cs, Carlos Carrizosa. The orange leader was "ashamed to see how the socialists continually lie and assume the discourse of the most supremacist and exclusive nationalism", and all "to stay in power", he said, referring to the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez.
On behalf of Vox, Ignacio Garriga highlighted the new "chapter of betrayal of the PSC to the Catalans" signing "an insult to the middle and working classes". The ultra-nationalist leader lamented that the PSC "allows separatism to advance by trampling on the rights of Catalans" and promised to fight "until final victory to recover the rights of our children" ensuring that "sooner rather than later" they will be able to attend school in Spanish.
From the PP, Alejandro Fernández lamented that with this law "they want to make sacred a linguistic immersion that is actually an anomaly that does not take place in any other country where two official languages coexist." After assuring that "pure immersion is illegal", he warned that the politicization of the linguistic issue is being "disastrous for Catalan" by being identified with a specific political project, independence, in such a way that "it generates rejection among a part of the Catalans".
