Nacho Alarcón, October 20, 2022
The president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès. (EFE/Garcia)
For the first time since 2015, a president of the Generalitat finds the doors of the European Commission open. At his meeting, the Commissioner for Justice has asked to comply with the rules of the Spanish language.
The Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, has reminded the President of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès, of the need to comply with the ruling of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia that requires 25% of classes to be in Spanish. It was during a visit by the Catalan leader to the European Commission, the first time that the doors of the UE Executive have been opened for a president since Artur Mas in 2015. His visit to the institution marks a normalization of relations between the Generalitat and Brussels that were completely broken after the independence struggle of 2017.
“Commissioner Reynders also highlighted the importance of applying the Court’s rulings and President Aragonés explained the issues related to the use of languages in schools in Catalonia. A constitutionality issue is currently pending before the Spanish Constitutional Court,” he said. declared a spokesman for Reynders’ team. Aragonès has defended that the law is not being breached by Catalan government
The Belgian commissioner has been listening to complaints from some associations for months and also from the Citizens’ delegation in the European Parliament, which has made it one of his priorities. The discussion with the Commissioner for Justice has covered other issues, such as “the use of spyware, the protection of personal data and privacy”, in relation to the espionage of independence leaders. Reynders has reminded the Catalan leader that Brussels “strongly condemns any illegal access to interpersonal communications”.
Aragonès team were happy with a visit that continues this Friday with another meeting, this time with Commissioner for the Internal Market and Industry, Frenchman Thierry Breton. It has been a long job for the ‘president’, who has already traveled to Brussels several times in recent months with the aim of normalizing relations. At the time, the Generalitat was one of the European regional institutions with the best access to community institutions, and precisely for this reason the independence plan largely passed through Brussels.
It has been a job of rebuilding trust. The one who has the key to open the door to Aragonès to the European institutions is none other than the Spanish Government, and Madrid has only allowed it with the commitment of the Generalitat not to use that access again for its unilateral independence plans. In fact, the ‘president’ has not addressed any issue about October 1 or the pro-independence ‘procés’ during his meeting with Justice Commissioner.
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