ERC, PSC, Junts and comuns agree on the Catalan law to respond to the ruling on Spanish in schools

The main Catalan political groups ―PSC, ERC, Junts per Catalunya and En Comú Podem― lighted this Tuesday a new agreement on the use of official languages ​​in education, in an attempt to respond to the ruling that requires that, before next month, Spanish is used as the vehicular language (teacher) in at least 25% of the hours.

The pact, politically relevant for including independence and non-independence parties, navigates between ambiguities to achieve consensus.

The rule establishes that Catalan, as the language of Catalonia, is the language "normally used as a vehicular and learning language", and that Spanish will be according to the linguistic criteria set by each center, cataloging it for the first time as a curricular language.

"The teaching and curricular and educational use of Catalan and Spanish must be guaranteed," says the text, which will be approved in Parliament this week.

The rule does not set quotas and it is not clear that it can serve to nullify the 25% sentence issued by the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC), as the independentistas claim.

The PSC assures that the law will serve to better comply with what the judges have dictated.

The agreement announced this Tuesday comes after two months of conflict due to the withdrawal of Junts from a first agreement reached in March, and which already gave entry to Spanish as a language of learning without equating it, yes, to Catalan.

After the registration of the text, Junts, ERC and En Comú Podem have celebrated that the pact "shields", according to them, the current model, in which the only vehicular language is Catalan.

The Socialists have highlighted that Catalan remains the "center of gravity" of the system and Spanish will be the language of learning, with which they consider that the ruling is being complied with.

The differences in interpretation of the text are therefore remarkable.

While the parties that support the Government (ERC and Junts) consider that the law makes it possible to avoid compliance with the 25% ruling,

the socialists believe that the sentence will be complied with, but with a greater margin of action by each center.

The term to comply with the sentence expires on Tuesday, May 31, and the court has ruled that 25% of Spanish must be applied in all educational centers in Catalonia.

Junts boasted that the text of the new law is much clearer than that of the March pact, and offers more "legal certainty" to the directors of the centers to be able to determine the proportion of the use of languages ​​in their educational projects.

The truth is that now there will be three laws that mention the use of languages, which may not conflict with each other but establish different things: the Education Law, the Language Policy Law and the regulation that will be approved this week.

The latter is the one that promises to be more controversial, because the independentistas want to use it to make clear their opposition to the 25% sentence.

The text will be debated on Wednesday by single reading and in principle will be approved on Friday.

Subsequently, the Government plans to hold a Consell Executiu in which it will approve a decree to assume the responsibility that the centers may incur if they do not apply the sentence of 25% of Castilian.

The CUP, which considers that the concept "curricular language" is equivalent to "vehicular", has distanced itself from the double initiative, that of the Parliament and that of the decree-law, because it believes that it ends the model of immersion in Catalan.

The four groups have underlined the effort they have made to reach consensus and believe that so many days of negotiations "enrich" the agreement.

Marta Vilalta, ERC spokesperson, recalled that the consensus represents 103 deputies out of the 135 deputies of the Parliament, 80% of the total.

She has also rejected that the courts can exercise "interference" over the language in schools and has claimed that each center can apply the linguistic quotas according to their social and pedagogical reality.

The non-law proposal, which will be approved urgently and in a single reading, is entitled "on the use and learning of official languages ​​in non-university education".

The text, with two articles and three additional provisions, establishes that Catalan is normally the "vehicular and learning language" in the education system and that it is also the language when welcoming newcomers to Catalonia.

Spanish is, continues the articles, in the terms established by the linguistic projects of each center based on a series of criteria.

These conditions are that "the teaching and curricular and educational use of the two languages ​​are guaranteed";

that the presence of the languages ​​take into account the sociolinguistic situation and that the projects adapt to what is set by the Department of Education.

The agreement has been closed

On March 24, the four groups signed the reform of the Language Policy Law, which defined Catalan as the vehicular and learning language.

In a second sentence, he added that Spanish "also" was used in the terms defined in each center, but Junts dropped the hook hours after signing it and then began a very long period of negotiations.

Alicia Romero, socialist spokesperson, has affirmed that the difference with respect to March is that they have changed the legal instrument and that for them, the term "curricular use" is equivalent to "vehicularity".

"This is what the experts think," said Romero, who had warned this morning that they would not accept any agreement that treated Spanish as a "foreign language."

The leadership of Junts has highlighted that the agreement has been extended with the complicity of the educational community.

“Catalan is the vehicular language;

teachers are protected and it will be the host language for newly arrived children”, said the spokeswoman, Mònica Salas, accompanied by Jordi Sánchez, general secretary of the party.

The 1998 linguistic normalization law did not contemplate that Spanish be vehicular and, according to Junts, neither now because Spanish, they say, will be taught based on pedagogical criteria and based on the reality of each center.

David Cid, spokesman for the commons, has celebrated the agreement considering that it shields "Catalan and immersion".

“Linguistic immersion and Catalan have a long life in Catalan public schools”, he stated, pointing out that it was essential to regulate the new situation in a law.

The spokesman has affirmed that the text does not differ too much from the one signed on the 24th, but he has recognized that they have listened to the educational community.

“It has been a solid and transversal agreement.

And it's very good news."

On the other hand, Ciudadanos, in favor of Catalan, Spanish and English being vehicular, has deplored the agreement.

The orange formation has considered for weeks that the pro-independence and socialists are only looking for "subterfuge" to break the sentence.

"As expected, the cheating law does not include the right to a minimum of 25% Spanish in all classrooms in Catalonia," said Carlos Carrizosa, spokesman for Ciudadanos.

"Of course, it puts the center directors on the target, trying to divert direct responsibility from [Josep] Gonzàlez-Cambray", referring to the Minister of Education.

“Shame on the PSC and on Catalan politics”, he added.

The popular Alejandro Fernández has pointed out that the law has sought the formula to breach the sentence and that, therefore, they will not be able to support it.

“The language of learning is a subterfuge that does not legally commit anything.

And that is a very typical idea of ​​socialists.”

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