Congress has given the go-ahead and from next Tuesday, deputies will be able to perform their parliamentary functions in Catalan, Basque and Galician, in addition to Spanish. They will do so in the two extraordinary plenums that will be held on September 19 and 21, in which the proposal to reform the regulations will be approved that will precisely allow the use of the co-official languages in the Lower House.
The initiative involves moving forward one week the initial forecasts, which pointed to the investiture debate of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, on the 26th and 27th of this month, as the premiere date of Catalan, Basque and Galician in Congress . The Bureau, where the PSOE and Sumar have a majority, has decided to advance the authorization, with the opposition of the PP, but once the will of the groups that will support the reform has been confirmed.
The use of the co-official languages will be allowed in all parliamentary activity. Not only in oral interventions, but also in written presentations. The use of Aranese will also be authorized, since languages that are official in the statutes of autonomy will be accepted, and Aranese is considered as such in Catalonia. However, at least for the moment, there will be no simultaneous translation from Aranese, and if any deputy wants to use it, he will have to translate it himself.
The approval of the proposal to reform the Regulations will be processed directly and in a single reading in the two plenary sessions next week. On Tuesday the initiative will be taken into consideration and voted on, and on Thursday the amendments presented will be debated and voted on. The block promoting the reform – PSOE, Sumar, ERC, Junts, EH Bildu, PNB and BNG – has 178 votes, which guarantees its approval.
The reform also has the approval of the lawyers of the Congress, in a document that the Bureau saw yesterday. The lawyers recognize the right of deputies to use official languages other than Spanish in the Chamber, and do not object to the initiative being processed directly and in a single reading. However, they warn that in the short term it is "very difficult" to apply the use of the co-official languages in all parliamentary activity, since the proposed reform for this implementation affects "the entire functioning of the Chamber".
To prepare the device in record time, Congress asked the Senate how its translation system is organized, parliamentary sources explain. In the Upper House, the use of co-official languages has been a reality since 2005, with limitations. For this reason, the Senate has a team of 25 translators, who are not employees, but freelancers, and Congress will hire those it deems appropriate from that list.
The Board of Spokespersons will specify in its meeting today how the hiring of translators who will attend the Chamber in the next plenary sessions will be carried out. They will be one-off contracts of an "extraordinary and exceptional" nature, so that now there will be no need to open a public tender.
The Senate's team of translators is made up of 25 professionals, selected with a preliminary examination in 2005. Since that year, the regulations have allowed senators to use Catalan, Basque and Galician in the Autonomous Communities Commission. Since 2011 also in plenary sessions, although only in the debate on motions.
Translators provide their service externally, depending on needs and availability. For a plenary session in the Senate, seven people are called, who are organized to cover all the real-time translation from Catalan, Valencian - which are treated as different languages -, Basque and Galician into Spanish, explain sources in the Chamber.
The Congress already has the equipment for simultaneous translation, including the headsets that will be distributed so that those attending the chamber can understand all the speakers. Sources from the Congress point out that in any case this team will be expanded when the implementation of the use of the languages is complete.
The Chamber also guarantees the understanding of all debates and documents and their legality, and they affect the fact that everything published in the Courts bulletin will be reviewed by the legal services.
