The MEPs, mostly conservatives, who visited Catalonia in December to analyze the linguistic immersion model in Catalan schools left regretting the “polarization” on the subject and accusing the Generalitat of not considering an alternative model. In their preliminary report, which will be presented this Wednesday in the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament, the legislators now propose several recommendations – non-binding – that aim to guarantee equitable treatment between Catalan and Spanish.
The 18-page draft report, to which EL PAÍS has had access, summarizes the meetings and impressions after the three-day visit of the MEPs who made up the mission: the president, Yana Toom (of the liberal group Renew to which Ciudadanos belongs, who promoted the visit), as well as members of the European People's Party (EPP) Peter Jahr and Jaroslaw Duda; the Polish Kosma Zlotwski, from the ultra-conservative ECR that hosts Vox; the MEP for Marine Le Pen's National Rally Virginie Joron, from the far-right European group ID, and the Italian Maria Angela Danzi, from the 5 Stelle Movement and not affiliated with any political family in Brussels.
Their conclusion: that the Catalan Government “is not currently applying” the rulings that require guaranteeing 25% of classes in Spanish in the educational system. It is the same premise by which, in October 2022, the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament, chaired by the popular Dolors Montserrat and where the most conservative bloc, with PP, Cs and Vox in its ranks, usually manages to carry out the votes , decided to send this mission in the second half of 2023 at the initiative of Ciudadanos, which denounced a “persecution of Spanish in Catalan politics.” The decision was highly criticized by left-wing groups who denounced that it contravened the tradition of avoiding interference with national politics, given that the proposed date coincided with the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU and, if it had not been brought forward, it would also it would have done so with the general elections initially scheduled for the end of last year.
The draft report, which must still be discussed and submitted to amendments before being voted on, launches a dozen recommendations that revolve around the need, as Ciudadanos MEP Maite Pagaza has advanced on social networks, to guarantee “the same treatment for Spanish and Catalan as the vehicular language of education” and guarantee that “children are not discriminated against” because of the language.
Among others, it is proposed to guarantee that communications from educational centers are made, ex officio, in both Catalan and Spanish, “without the need for the student or family to request it individually.” It also urges the “national and regional” Spanish authorities to closely monitor whether a “balanced” content of the languages of instruction in Catalan schools is respected and that co-official languages are given equal treatment.
The mission also “suggests” that the Government of Pedro Sánchez “review” the way in which the National Higher Education Inspection Authority supervises in Catalonia the minimum standards for balanced content of language teaching. In the same sense, it recommends that independent experts carry out an analysis on the equal treatment of co-official languages in education to propose recommendations. And it asks the European Commission to “closely monitor” the application in Catalonia of article 165 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU on “quality education.” Likewise, it suggests that Brussels include this issue in its next report on the rule of law in Spain and offer “technical assistance” to the country to “address issues regarding fundamental rights.”
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The mission was denounced from the beginning by left-wing groups as a new attempt by the Petitions Commission and its president Dolors Montserrat, to promote a “national political strategy” in European bodies. Reports of political manipulation of this commission, which acts as a kind of citizen service window of the European Parliament, have been constant in recent years, in which many MEPs of other nationalities have also questioned the high number of Spanish cases that arrived until this point, of little real political weight—its recommendations are not binding—but it has managed to act as a loudspeaker for national political disputes.
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