The government spokeswoman, Isabel Rodríguez, after the Council of Ministers on Tuesday. Eduardo Parra (Europa Press)
The Generalitat's refusal to apply at least 25% of teaching hours in Spanish (an additional core subject) in Catalan schools has reopened a political and judicial battle.
And it adds more uncertainty to a convulsive and unpredictable legislature.
On the one hand, because it weakens the complicated relations between the Socialists and the ERC, a fundamental partner for La Moncloa.
Meanwhile, the right competed with each other with announcements that ranged from resorting to the Constitutional Court to demanding the suspension of the autonomy of Catalonia as in 2017.
The Government's decision not to abide by the sentence, issuing instructions so that the 4,500 educational centers guarantee the use and presence of the two co-official languages, but without setting any percentage —they do state that the linguistic projects must guarantee the “curricular use and education” of both—has created an unprecedented scenario.
The Generalitat alleged a "legal impossibility" before the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) to execute the resolution just on the day the deadline to comply with it expired.
The court declared the ruling firm in January and gave the Government two months to apply it.
The deadlines were dilated without in the end reaching a transversal agreement between sovereignists, PSC and common people to agree on a new law on the use of languages.
More information
The Generalitat approves the decree that refuses to apply the sentence of 25% Spanish in schools
The legal cabinet of the Generalitat now wields that, since there is a new legal framework, caused after the approval on Monday by the Catalan Executive of the decree law with which it intends to circumvent the sentence, it is exempt from having to establish a fixed percentage of Spanish in the classrooms.
"What we do is legislate and respond to the new regulations" established by the decree law, justified the Minister of Education, Josep Gonzàlez-Cambray, who refused to speak of disobedience to the judicial resolution.
The lawyers remember a similar case, in Navarra, where the Supreme Court protected in 2006 the legal change after a sentence as a reason to accept the impossibility of application.
It will be the Superior of Catalonia who has to accept if he accepts that jurisprudence and if he accepts the solution proposed by the Government.
In a very uncomfortable position, the Government insisted on Tuesday that the sentences must be fulfilled, after knowing the instructions that the Generalitat sent to the schools to validate the linguistic decree in which percentages are not set.
"On their use [of languages] and the direction entrusted by the courts, the sentences must be fulfilled and all the Administrations must comply with the mandates of the judges," said the spokesperson for the Executive, Isabel Rodríguez.
Government sources maintain that the Government will have to abide by the resolution: otherwise they would be prevaricating.
Moncloa does not contemplate taking any steps at the moment and will wait for the contentious-administrative process to continue and the magistrates to rule on whether the decree law approved by the Generalitat is in accordance with the law.
The Government argues in its petition to the TSJC, protected within the mechanisms of suspension and non-execution of contentious-administrative sentences, how the new legal framework that establishes that “numerical parameters, proportions or percentages in teaching or use of languages” collides with the previous one, in which the sentence was inscribed.
Now the court will be in charge, in an undetermined period of time, if it accepts the Generalitat's request or insists that its mandate of 25% of teaching time in Spanish must be applied in order to guarantee the vehicularity of that language.
Government sources point out that the Government will have to respond to the High Inspection of Education and believe that the High Court will ask for explanations.
Apart from the decree law, ERC, Junts, En Comú Podem and PSC tried to agree in Parliament a bill on languages that establishes Catalan as the language "normally used as a vehicular and learning language" and bets on Spanish as a "curriculum language ”, as determined by each center in its linguistic project.
Its approval is delayed pending an opinion from the Consell of Statutory Guarantees.
However, the Socialists distance themselves from the decree, which their spokesperson, Alícia Romero, does not see as "coherent" or "consistent" with the parliamentary pact.
In principle, the validation of the decree will go ahead in the Parlament with the support of Esquerra, Junts and the commons.
While the alliance between progressives and nationalists is fractured, the right raised the ghost of article 155 in Catalonia, although the majority party of the bloc, Alberto Núñez Feijóo's PP, remains for the moment on a lower step: the presentation of an appeal for unconstitutionality against the decree of the Generalitat.
Feijóo confirmed on Tuesday that the PP will join the appeal to the Constitutional Court of Citizens before the "order of a community [Catalonia] to the State."
Inés Arrimadas's party had gone ahead in announcing the initiative and had asked the popular to adhere to it, but Ciudadanos also calls on the Government to apply article 155, just like Vox.
The leader of the extreme right, Santiago Abascal, urged to do so in a "sustained,
permanent and forceful” until compliance with the law in Catalonia is guaranteed.
Abascal even proposes the arrest of the
Catalan Minister
of Education.
The president of the PP defended the use of the Constitutional Court to "protect the rights of Catalan families to know and use one of the co-official languages", and charged the Catalan socialists for supporting the bill that is currently being processed in Parliament on the use of languages in the Catalan school.
"It is very sad that in the 21st century a [Catalan] government is clearly illegal and has the support of the PSC," he complained.
The leaders of the right used similar expressions to refer to this matter.
If Feijóo spoke of "ordering the State", Abascal spoke of the "umpteenth challenge" to the rule of law.
Edmundo Bal, from Ciudadanos, compared the government's decree with what happened in the secessionist challenge of 2017. The norm is a "blatant disobedience to the mandates of the Constitutional Court,
In this climate of rhetorical fire, Feijóo is, however, somewhat uncomfortable: he only spoke about the subject to questions from journalists, not before, and he did so while insisting that he is committed to "cordial bilingualism" in Catalonia.
The popular leader, a politician from Galicia who defends and speaks in Galician, tries to regain ground in Catalan politics with a Catalanist twist and vindication of nationalities.
He did so in the Cercle de Economía a few weeks ago, speaking of "Catalan nationality", with great scandal for part of the right.
The way in which Feijóo confirmed that the PP will join the Citizens resource also gave clues to that discomfort.
“If inevitably we are summoned due to the need to appeal to the Constitutional Court,” he observed, “we have already transferred Citizens to have, if they want, and I think they do want, with a constitutional appeal.”
Immediately afterwards, Feijóo insisted on the harmonic coexistence of the different languages of the State.
“Warm bilingualism is our hallmark and we are going to implement it in Catalonia.
Catalan and Spanish can coexist perfectly”, he stated.
With information from
Camilo S. Baquero
Exclusive content for subscribers
read without limits
subscribe
I'm already a subscriber