Alejandro Tercero, Barcelona, 9 September 2022
Three months ago, in an article published here in Crónica Global, I applauded the PSC’s support for the new law on the use and learning of official languages in non-university education, after negotiating it with the nationalist parties.
Contrary to the majority opinion in Catalonia’s constitutionalist circles, I dared to defend the position of the party led by Salvador Illa.
After all, the new law did not contradict the application of the rulings on the 25% in Castilian, and I understood that the recognition of Spanish as a language of “curricular use” did not confer it the status of “vehicular” but it was a step in the right direction. And, as such, I was willing to accept it with the benefit of hindsight.
Why not believe in the goodwill of the Catalan Socialists on this issue? Even more so if we take into account, that in the last decade the PSC has undergone considerable liposuction to get rid of most of the nationalist fat that kept it adrift for many years.
Moreover, Illa’s party made it clear that it would not support any decree of the Generalitat based on this law that would prevent bilingualism in schools. And so it was, the Government approved the decree, but the PSC did not support its ratification in Parliament, which went ahead with the votes of the pro-independence majority.
However, that was not enough. Being aware that, once again, they had been used by the nationalists as useful fools to prevent the application of the 25% of Spanish in schools, they should have reacted. But they did not.
The national government, of which the PSC is a member, could have appealed these regulations to the Constitutional Court, and they would have been automatically suspended, which would have safeguarded the application of bilingualism in schools this school year.
But not only has the decree not been appealed, but the PSC has not taken any measures to guarantee respect for the linguistic rights of Spanish-speaking Catalans, as the Ministry of Education could have done.
In fact, the PSC has not even reacted when the regional Ministry of Education, led by Josep Gonzàlez-Cambray, announced the elimination of the 25% in schools where it was already applied by court order.
There is no doubt that I was wrong to trust the PSC. And I fear that other potential voters of the Catalan Socialists have also felt let down. Perhaps for the last time in a long time.
https://cronicaglobal.elespanol.com/pensamiento/zona-franca/me-equivoque-psc-lengua_716525_102.html
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