SUMMARY OF THE REPORT ON THE EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES (ECRML )

Transcription

1 SUMMARY OF THE REPORT ON THE EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES (ECRML )

2 CONTENTS page Summary of the report on the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML)... 2 Drafting of the Spanish reports...3 Content of the reports...4 Spain s Justice Administration and state institutions ignore the Charter s validity...5 Spain s non-compliance with recommendations from the Experts and Ministers Committees...6 Education...8 Organic law for the improvement of quality of education (LOMCE)...9 Negative case-law...10 Catalan Law of Education...10 Escalation of challenges...11 PP parliamentary group...11 Ombudsman...11 PSOE Government of Spain...12 Growing linguistic intolerance...12 Regulations that impose Castilian...13 Media...14 Broadcast and reception of radio and television channels in Catalan...14 Presence of Catalan in public and private state-wide media...14 Sworn translators and interpreters certified by the Government of Catalonia...15 Central Government bodies...15 Use of Catalan in the European institutions...15 Promotion abroad of the Catalan language...16 Other actions in the Autonomous Communities of the Balearic Islands, Valencia and Aragon...16 Balearic Civil Service Act...16 Balearic Decree on trilingualism in education...17 Catalan in Aragon, Valencia and the Balearic Islands...17 Catalan sign language...18 Government of Catalonia 2

3 Drafting of the Spanish reports In 2001, Spain ratified the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (ECRML), expressing a high level of commitment as regards some of the Charter s articles. Central government was ruled by the Popular Party (PP), which held an absolute majority in Parliament, as it does today. The first Spanish report on compliance with the Charter (2002) seems to have been drafted by the Central Government administration with no input whatsoever from the Autonomous Communities. 1 In compiling the last three Spanish reports (2007, 2010 and 2014), the State Administration sought and received cooperation from the governments of the Autonomous Communities. The three reports addressed to Central Government by the Directorate General of Language Policy of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Regional Government of Catalonia) explain the activity of the Catalan Government with respect to compliance with the Charter. They also however condemn the non-fulfilment and violation of the ECRML on the part of Central Government and other governments of Catalan-speaking regions of Spain (Valencia, Balearic Islands and Aragon). According to information received, the Committee of Experts tends to evaluate positively all actions taken by the Catalan Government with respect to the Catalan language. An example of these for the current period which the Committee will evaluate in the next report includes the list of laws with linguistic content enacted by the Catalan Parliament during this fourth monitoring cycle of Charter application: Act 12/2009, of 10 July, on education; Act 10/2010, of 2 May, on reception for immigrants and returnees to Catalonia; Act 13/2010, of 21 May, on the Statistical Plan for Catalonia, ; Act 17/2010, of 3 June, on Catalan sign language; Act 20/2010, of 7 July, on cinema; Act 22/2010, of 20 July, on the Consumer Code of Catalonia; 1 All reports and recommendations received or issued by the Committee of Experts of the Council of Europe may be found at ( ). Government of Catalonia 3

4 Act 29/2010, of 3 August, on the use of electronic media in the public sector in Catalonia; Act 33/2010, of 1 October, on youth policies; Act 35/2010, of 1 October, on Occitan, Aranese in Aran. Criticism made to date in reports by the Committee of Experts and which also affects the Catalan Government tends to focus on policy relating to Occitan/Aranese which, as from the 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, went from being protected by Part II of the Charter (general protection) to Part III (specific protection). Content of the reports The Spanish Government includes information, or some of it, provided by the Government of Catalonia about actions in its region, but in successive texts addressed to the Council of Europe Spanish reports have systematically eliminated all censure of the Central and other regional governments made by the Catalans. The Committee of Experts did not receive the two previous reports issued by the Catalan Government, and thus never saw the criticisms they contained. Last year, the Directorate General of Language Policy sent its report corresponding to the current monitoring cycle, the fourth since the Charter s entry into force, to the State Administration and the Committee of Experts of the Council of Europe. Comparison of the Catalan Government s reports and those finally delivered by the Spanish Government clearly shows the censorship exercised by the latter over the information provided by the former. As examples of application of the Charter, Spain s reports have always referred to regional government actions, even in the first report despite the Autonomous Communities having been unable to participate in its drafting. 2 At the same time, these reports conceal non-compliances by the Central Government and, in some cases, even blame the Autonomous Communities in matters whose competence is that of the State Administration st Report of the Committee of Experts, paragraphs 228, 312 to 315, 317, 323, Comment 5 by Spain on the proposals for recommendations of the 3rd report of the Committee of Experts ( ) Government of Catalonia 4

5 Fulfilment of the Charter by some regional governments seems to be used by Central Government as a subterfuge to conceal its own inactivity. Spain s Justice Administration and state institutions ignore the Charter s validity The Spanish Justice Administration system disregards application of the Charter, almost as if it were not in fact a regulatory text valid in Spain. Judicial sentences that mention the Charter or other provisions that protect linguistic minorities are practically non-existent. When the courts do refer to it they do so solely because one of the parties, the one defending the minority language, has cited the Charter, and the court therefore mentions it, but such referral has almost never served as grounds to rule in favour of that party. Curiously, in sentences consulted in which the Charter has been referred to, the ruling has almost always been negative for the party that defended the use of the minority language. 4 COMMENTS ON THE PROPOSALS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS (of the Committee of Experts to the Ministers). 5. Ensure the presence of all regional or minority languages in provision of health care services. / Information on this aspect should be provided by the Autonomous Communities which have competence in the management of health services. This information may be included in the (sic) Spain s next report on compliance of the Charter. 4 Examples of mentions unsuccessful on the part of the party that defended the use of the minority language of the Charter or of one of the international provisions referred to in this study: - Interlocutory order of 19 April 2005 of the Court of First Instance Nº 28 of Barcelona: Considers that both Article 13.3 of the Language Policy Act and 9 of the ECRML offer the judge the option of choosing whether to use Catalan or the minority language, without it being compulsory to do so in the event of one of the parties requesting its use. - Interlocutory order of 5 July 2007 of the Vizcaya Court of Appeal and sentence of 22 January 2009 of the Guipuzcoa Court of Appeal, denying the right to proceedings being held directly in Basque without the intervention of translators. - Sentence of 25 May 2011 of the Spanish Supreme Court: Dismissed the appeal for reversal lodged by the Basque Government against the sentence of 9 October 2008 of the National Court. Both sentences dismissed an appeal against a Ministerial Order which considers knowledge of the Basque language solely an advantage in the provision of jobs in the Justice Administration. On the other hand, the sentence handed down on 24 April 2008 of the Plenary of the Criminal Chamber of the National Court may be considered positive. It upheld an appeal, on the grounds that obliging the accused to speak Spanish represented a violation of their right to a fair trial, declaring that this could represent a situation of defencelessness. The right to declare in one s mother tongue forms part of the subjective right to selfdefence or personal defence referred to in Article 24 of the Spanish Constitution. The sentence takes into account Article 3 of the Constitution, the ECRML and Article 231 of the Judiciary Act (LOPJ): "Allowing the accused to express himself in his mother tongue is a guarantee of the right to defense". It states that STC 74/1987 recognises the right to declare in the mother tongue everywhere, and that Article of the Judiciary Act distinguishes between the co-official or minority languages of Spain which make up the richness of our cultural heritage, and foreign languages. Another positive legal ruling of which we are aware and which refers to the Charter is the Interlocutory order of 24 November 2009 of the Fourth Chamber of the Government of Catalonia 5

6 Generally speaking, all of Spain s central powers ignore the Charter, which they never mention. If they apply it, it is because they have been forced to do so by the regional governments of the Autonomous Communities which have shown themselves to be sensitive to linguistic pluralism, in particular Catalonia. If Spain s Central Government applies the Charter in certain cases it seems to do so because it cannot completely disregard the official nature of minority languages in the geographical areas in which they are spoken, but under no circumstances due to consideration of an international treaty, which it never mentions. 5 Moreover, in Spain s comments to the last report of the Committee of Experts (2011), it refers to the economic crisis as reason for the slowdown in protection of regional and minority languages. Spain s non-compliance with recommendations from the Experts and Ministers Committees Each cycle of monitoring of the Charter s application concludes with recommendations from the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers. Recommendations that fall within the Spanish Government s competences have been repeated in each of the three cycles, thus indicating Spain s absolute lack of intention to act upon them. On three successive occasions, that is to say in all of the Charter monitoring cycles, the Committee of Ministers has called for the Spanish authorities to: - Take the necessary legal and practical measures to ensure that an adequate proportion of the judicial staff posted in the Autonomous Communities concerned by Supreme Court, which resolved to accept an appeal for reversal drafted in Catalan without the need to provide its translation into Castilian. 5 For example, as regards Article 9.3 of the Charter (1st report of the Committee of Experts, paragraphs 239 to 241) the Official Spanish Gazette publishes certain pieces of legislation in the different official Spanish languages, but the most costly part of the publication, namely the translation, is assumed by the Autonomous Communities. Thus only those regulations which the regional governments have decided to translate are published in languages other than Castilian. In this respect, the Catalan Government translates every possible regulation into Catalan, but not one appears in Basque because neither the Basque Government nor that of Navarre ever undertakes to finance their translation. Some legal texts are published in Galician, and it is a sad fact that some are also translated into Catalan by the Valencian Government, resulting in the appearance of two Catalan versions of the same content. For its part, the Balearic Government does not collaborate in the Catalan translation, but until now neither has it contributed to the linguistic division with a third Catalan version. Central Government also complies in general with Article 10.2.g relating to place-names (1st report, paragraph 263). Government of Catalonia 6

7 the application of Article 9 of the Charter relating to the Justice Administration have a working knowledge of the relevant languages. - Review the recruitment, career and training schemes for the staff of the State Administration offices with a view to ensuring that an adequate proportion of the staff posted in the Autonomous Communities affected by application of Article 10 of the Charter have a working knowledge of the relevant languages. The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers recommendations in the last two monitoring cycles have also asked Spanish authorities to ensure the presence of all regional or minority languages in State-owned public services. The Committee of Ministers recommendations of the last cycle (2012) also request modification of the legal framework to make it clear that the criminal, civil and administrative judicial authorities in the Autonomous Communities will conduct proceedings in the coofficial languages at the request of one of the parties. Application of all these recommendations depends upon Central Government, not the governments of the Autonomous Communities. The only recommendation that also seems to fall within the competences of the Government of Catalonia is that related to health services and the ability of personnel to understand patients who speak in the regional language. 6 In contrast to other regions, Catalan health service staff must know Catalan and be able to attend to patients in the Catalan language. In addition to the recommendations of the Committee of Ministers, the Committee of Experts specifies others which reflect the permanent difficulties in using Catalan in the Justice Administration and that of Central Government. 7 A clarification made to Spain by the Committee of Experts in the first report is highly significant. The Charter instructs parties to ensure, by appropriate means that safety 6 Paragraph 319 of the 3rd report of the Committee of Experts seems to refer to this, and chapter 4.1.J confirms the existence of deficiencies in medical staff in Catalonia. 7 1st report of the Committee of Experts, paragraphs 226 to 235, 242 to 251. Government of Catalonia 7

8 instructions are also drawn up in regional or minority languages. 8 To explain that it complies with this Article, the Spanish Government claims that all Catalans know Spanish! The Committee of Experts seems outraged by this answer, which demonstrates that the Spanish person drafting the response has absolutely no understanding of the aim of the Charter. 9 Thus successive Spanish Governments pay no heed whatsoever to these recommendations. By way of example, civil servants employed by Central Government are not required to know the official language of the respective region in which they work. And it goes without saying that civil servants in Spain s capital Madrid need no knowledge of the country s official languages other than Castilian, nor any part of them, nor is there any public body that will undertake translations between these languages. The result of this situation is that, though these languages are official in their respective regions, huge difficulties exist in using them with Spain s peripheral Administration. The lack of knowledge and use of Catalan by staff in the courts, the police and security forces and other Central-Government-dependant organisations (the national railway service Renfe, etc.) leads to situations of discrimination in all Catalan-speaking areas. Lately, an increase has been detected in complaints by the public of unjustified fines, harassment and insults. The Statute of Autonomy obliges civil servants and judicial staff in Catalonia to know the Catalan language. Education As far back as in its 1st report (2005), the Committee of Experts expressed its approval of the language regime within the education system, in which Catalan is most present and the 8 Article 13.2.d ECRML. 9 Paragraph 320 of the 1st report of the Committee of Experts: The Spanish Government s position is that safety is fully guaranteed since all regional or minority language speakers have a command of Castilian as well. The Committee of Experts responds in paragraph 321: The Committee of Experts considers in the first place that the argument according to which all Catalan-speakers also have a command of Castilian is not relevant, given that the present undertaking is concerned precisely with promoting the use of Catalan in the field of safety instructions. The Committee of Experts underlines, in this regard, that it is by making regional or minority languages a means of communication in modern daily life, to which the present undertaking, among others, is conducive, that they can be preserved as living and mature languages. The argument according to which regional or minority language speakers know the majority language anyway could after all be invoked in any of the fields covered by the Charter, which would make the latter pointless. See also the rest of paragraph 320 and paragraphs 322 to 324; and the 2nd report of the Committee of Experts, paragraph 335. Government of Catalonia 8

9 teaching of Castilian also guaranteed. In its last two reports (2008 and 2011), the Committee of Experts highlighted measures which hinder the presence of Catalan in the education system and in other fields and which have been implemented in regions governed by the Popular Party, in other words the Autonomous Communities of Valencia and the Balearic Islands. 10 In the Committee of Experts 2nd report (2008) they began to express concern for the forthcoming sentence of the Constitutional Court and its repercussions on the language regime in education. The 3rd report of the Committee of Experts (2011) noted the existence of a new jurisprudence which favoured Castilian and affected Catalonia. It asked the Spanish authorities to provide information about the impact of these decisions on education in the Catalan 11 language in the next State Periodical Report. The Catalan report sent to the Committee of Experts in 2013 and the field visit made on October 8 (Barcelona) and 9 (Palma, Majorca) 2014 should have enabled the Committee of Experts to see for themselves the offensive against the Catalan language in education in all Catalan Countries. Organic law for the improvement of quality of education (LOMCE) This legal text negatively alters the distribution of competences in the field of education. As regards the language regime, the LOMCE fails to recognise that established in Catalonia, questioning a model in which Catalan is the language normally used in schools and in which curriculums must ensure full knowledge of the two languages by the end of compulsory education. 10 2nd report of the Committee of Experts, conclusion 3.2.N. 11 3rd report of the Committee of Experts, paragraphs 250 and 251. A possible warning about the Catalan language regime in education may be deduced from conclusion 3.2.h at the end of the 2nd report of the Committee of Experts. Organisations opposed to the Catalan system lost no time in disseminating the news ( ). Government of Catalonia 9

10 Negative case-law Furthermore, six judgements were handed down in 2013 adversely affecting the educational language system in Catalonia: Interlocutory orders of the High Court of Catalonia of 3 January and 6 March 2013; Sentence of the Supreme Court of 19 February Section 4; Sentence of the Supreme Court of 26 February Section 4; Sentence of the Supreme Court of 24 September Section 4; Sentence of the Supreme Court of 19 November Section 4. Catalan Law of Education The Catalan Law of Education, Act 12/2009 of 10 July, develops the language regime derived from the Statute of Autonomy in the area of education. An appeal against the constitutionality of the Law was lodged with the Constitutional Court in 2009, filed by more than 50 Members of Congress belonging to the Popular Party (PP) parliamentary group. The Articles challenged that regulate the educational language regime are, basically, those which provide for determining the curriculum of language teaching (Art. 9.2), the personalised welcoming in Catalan of newly-arrived pupils (Art. 9.2), the language regime in education centres in Aran (Art. 17), teacher training (Art. 109) and knowledge of Catalan necessary to be admitted to the civil service teaching staff (Art. 119). Due, probably, to it being presented prior to the sentence of the Constitutional Court on the Statute of Autonomy, the appeal fails to encompass the bulk of articles relating to the educational language regime, which are not therefore contested. In this year 2014, sentence has yet to be handed down in relation to this appeal against the Catalan Education Act. Government of Catalonia 10

11 Escalation of challenges PP parliamentary group In addition to litigation in the area of education, the PP parliamentary group in the General Courts also lodged the following challenges before the Constitutional Court, which are awaiting sentence: The Film Law, for the percentages of copies of films released in Catalan (Act 20/2010, of 7 July, on Cinema): Appeal against various Articles that refer to film distributors and exhibitors obligation to distribute and screen, respectively, 50% of analogical copies of films in Catalan, as well as their obligation to include Catalan in copies on digital media. The appellant considers that safeguarding the economic interests of exhibitors and distributors must prevail over the language rights of consumers. The Consumer Code of Catalonia Law, regulating language rights (Act 22/2010, of 20 July): Appeal filed by the Ombudsman and PP Members of Congress against various Articles, in particular Article 128.1, which regulates consumers language rights in Catalonia, among them that which recognises the right to be attended verbally and in writing in the official language of choice, which consequently includes the right to be attended in Catalan, and in Aranese in the Aran valley. Ombudsman Besides the Consumer Code Law, an appeal alleging unconstitutionality has been lodged against Act 10/2010, of 2 May, on reception for immigrants and returnees to Catalonia. The appeal is specifically aimed at the Article which regulates the language competences that must be obtained for the process of integration into Catalan society. The aforementioned Act provides that basic linguistic competences must be achieved in both Catalan and Castilian, and thus the Administration must provide the means necessary to acquire these Government of Catalonia 11

12 skills through reception services. The appeal, which refers solely to matters of language, challenges the following aspects: a) That basic competences in Catalan must be achieved (Art. 9.2, and 9.4); b) The consideration of Catalan as the vehicular language in training and in information regarding the reception and integration services (Art. 9.4); c) The consideration of Catalan as the basic instrument to be used in these people s full integration in the country (Art. 9.4); d) That Catalan should be the common language in the management of reception and integration policies (Art. 9.4); e) That training in the Catalan language should be undertaken first, preceding that of Castilian (Art. 9.5). PSOE Government of Spain Following the Constitutional Court sentence on the Statute of Autonomy, the then Government of Spain, which continued to enjoy a Socialist parliamentary majority, presented a challenge before that Court against Act 35/2010, of 1 October, on Occitan, Aranese in Aran. The appeal affected the four precepts of the Act (2.3, 5.4, 7, and 6.5), which declare the preferential use of Aranese by the public Administrations in the region of the Aran Valley. After five months of these Articles being suspended, mandatory because the Government that challenged them so requested, the interlocutory order of the Constitutional Court of 14 December 2011 agreed to maintain their suspension. Growing linguistic intolerance An issue of great concern which the Catalan Government has repeatedly complained about in its reports to the Spanish Central Government as well as in the last report addressed to the Committee of Experts of the Council of Europe is that of the indifference of Spanish institutions in the face of growing Catalan-phobia throughout Spain. Given that this Government of Catalonia 12

13 phenomenon is directly contrary to the principle of the Charter, 12 it has been the subject of mention in Committee of Experts reports. Such phobia can easily be confirmed through the Internet. Not only reports from the Catalan Government, but also the field visits made by the Committee of Experts must have made them realise that there are elements of the media (press, radio, television and digital sites) as well as numerous websites that actively promote hostility against Spanish languages other than Castilian, and especially against Catalan and Catalonia. By way of example, initiatives to boycott Catalan products are many and well known, with specific lists and instructions. 13 And this is not because the products are labelled in Catalan, but rather because they are simply produced or manufactured in Catalonia. Especially worrying are the declarations of well-known political personalities who incite antagonism towards Catalonia. Anti-Catalanism has become increasingly more bitter, and at the present moment is at its height due to the current political situation. Regulations that impose Castilian There is a continuous proliferation of regulations that impose Castilian, and this has been exacerbated during the current government s term of office. Since approval of the 1978 Spanish Constitution for instance, hundreds of orders and provisions have established Castilian as the language to be used in labelling the widest variety of products. These regulations violate the Charter, ignore the constitutional recognition of Catalan as a language which is not only official but also merits special respect and protection, and fail to recognise the Catalan Government s competence in the area of language normalisation. In its reports, Spain disregards or conceals the countless Spanish state-wide regulations that impede the use of minority languages by imposing Castilian. These rules are particularly frequent in the economic sphere, where sectorial technical regulations for example often make the use of Castilian compulsory, without respecting the official nature of other languages, even within their own region See Article 7, paragraph 3, in part II of the ECRML. See the 1st report of the Committee of Experts, paragraph 186 and page 171 conclusion T; and in the 2nd report of the Committee of Experts, paragraphs 195, 197 and Searching for list of Catalan products to boicott on Google produces numerous hits, the frst of which (in Castilian) is ( ). 14 1st report of the Committee of Experts, paragraphs 307 and 311; 2nd report, paragraph 320. Article 7.2 of the Charter states the following: 2. The Parties undertake to eliminate, if they have not yet done so, any Government of Catalonia 13

14 Media Broadcast and reception of radio and television channels in Catalan Central Government, with various majorities, and the regional Governments where PP hold power obstruct the broadcast and reception of radio stations and television channels in Catalan between Catalan-speaking areas. Within recent years, the Spanish Parliament has rejected a People s Legislative Initiative (PLI) signed by some 651,000 citizens in favour of a Television without Frontiers (September 2012) which would have enabled the free reception of channels in languages recognised by the Charter within the geographical areas where these languages are spoken. During this Charter application monitoring cycle, the Valencian Government has attempted to financially cripple the Valencian-language association Acció Cultural by imposing huge fines, impossible for the association to pay, for having rebroadcast signals from Catalan public TV stations. These fines were eventually quashed by the courts. In 2013 the Valencian Parliament passed a law closing down the Valencian television station Radiotelevisió Valenciana. This effectively meant the complete disappearance of any public offering in the Valencian language of both radio and television broadcasting. Presence of Catalan in public and private state-wide media The presence of Catalan in public and private state-wide media is scant or non-existent. There are no disconnections for Catalonia by private-sector broadcasters and they offer absolutely no sung or spoken music or culture in the Catalan language. unjustified distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference relating to the use of a regional or minority language and intended to discourage or endanger the maintenance or development of it. The adoption of special measures in favour of regional or minority languages aimed at promoting equality between the users of these languages and the rest of the population or which take due account of their specific conditions is not considered to be an act of discrimination against the users of more widely-used languages. Government of Catalonia 14

15 Sworn translators and interpreters certified by the Government of Catalonia Action by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in recent years represents an obstacle to the professional exercise of people authorised by the Catalan Government to undertake sworn interpretation and translation. Additional provision 16 of Act 2/2014, of 25 March, of the Action and of the External Service of the State, requires that such activities be carried out by holders of the qualification of sworn translator-interpreter, awarded by the Spanish Ministry. Central Government bodies Spanish legislation is unclear as to the possibility of addressing Central Government bodies in Catalan, and it seems the Charter does not encompass this aspect. While in some cases they have accepted documents in Catalan, the general criterion is to refuse the use of Spanish languages other than Castilian. The fact that numerous competences and capabilities are the reserve of Central Government bodies means that citizens often find themselves immersed in procedures which are conducted and resolved in Madrid. The linguistic criterion of the Spanish Government is thus radically different from that which prevails in Switzerland, Belgium and Quebec, where the respective central governments are multilingual. Use of Catalan in the European institutions Difficulties continue to exist in fulfilling the administrative agreements signed between the Spanish Government and EU bodies that ought to permit the publication in Catalan of instruments adopted by joint decision of the European Parliament and the Council, and oral interventions in Council sessions or, where applicable, other EU institutions and bodies. These would also include written communications between Spanish citizens and EU organs and institutions in cases where the writer would like the texts published in Catalan. These agreements are: Administrative agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the Council of the European Union, signed 7 November Government of Catalonia 15

16 Administrative Agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the Committee of the Regions, signed 16 November Administrative Agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the European Commission, signed 21 December Administrative Agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the European Economic and Social Committee, signed 7 June Administrative Agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the European Ombudsman, signed 30 November Administrative Agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the Court of Justice of the European Communities, signed 27 April These agreements set out to compensate, in part, for Spain s unfair refusal to request that Catalan be made an official language in the Community institutions, enabling its use in certain cases. Promotion abroad of the Catalan language The Spanish Government s contribution to promotion of the Catalan language abroad is negligible or non-existent. Other actions in the Autonomous Communities of the Balearic Islands, Valencia and Aragon Balearic Civil Service Act This law eliminates the general requirement of a certain knowledge of Catalan being necessary to enter the Administration; consequently, citizens right to use the co-official language of their choice can no longer be guaranteed. It also establishes that either the Catalan or a double Catalan and Castilian version of Balearic place-names will be considered official, thus eliminating the exclusive use of Catalan that had existed in this area. Government of Catalonia 16

17 Balearic Decree on trilingualism in education The Decree of 19 April 2013 was approved after offering parents by letter (in Castilian) the possibility of asking for their children s education to be conducted in Castilian. Only 7% took up the offer. The Decree was intended to significantly reduce the presence of Catalan in the education system. Though suspended as a precautionary measure by the High Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands, the same day as the suspension was handed down the Balearic Government immediately enacted Decree-Law 5/2013, of 6 September, which adopted certain urgent measures related to the implementation, over the academic year, of a system for the integrated acceptance of languages in non-university schools of the Balearic Islands. The Decree-Law effectively went around the High Court s suspension in order to impose the reduction in use of the minority language by means of a legal instrument intended for exceptional, urgent cases. It thus repealed Article 20 of the Decree of 19 April 2013 which, if certain requirements were met and a qualified majority of the School Council reached, permitted the predominant use of Catalan to be maintained. In September 2014 the High Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands annulled the Decree on trilingualism in education. Catalan in Aragon, Valencia and the Balearic Islands Regional Governments led by the Popular Party work against the unity of the Catalan language. The Government of Aragon enacted a timid law in 2009 which recognised certain uses for Catalan. In 2013 the new Aragon Parliament revoked that law and passed another which replaced the scientific name of Catalan with a purported Aragonese language spoken in eastern Aragon (LAPAO). Moreover, it relegated still further the presence of Catalan in the educational field and obliged the name of the language to be concealed. The Valencian Government has continued to show disdain for sentences of the courts (some 46 to date) that support the unanimous position of the academic world which says that Catalan and Valencian are names that refer to the same language. The denial of this fact proves prejudicial to Valencian citizens holding Catalan Philology university qualifications in the case of selection competitions for teaching positions in Valencia. Government of Catalonia 17

18 On 13 June 2013, the Popular Party parliamentary group in the Valencian Parliament presented a Green Paper for special urgent processing on the Spanish Royal Academy (RAE) recognising Valencian as the category of language spoken by the Valencian people. It so happens that the authoritative dictionary of Castilian (DRAE) currently defines Valencian as a variation of Catalan used in a large part of the ancient Kingdom of Valencia and commonly considered in that region to be their own language. During the Franco dictatorship, the RAE modified its definition of Valencian to separate it from the Catalan language, which it did not mention. The Valencian Popular Party s discussion proposal, drafted in the Valencian variation of the language but replete with spelling mistakes, was intended to influence the RAE, the authoritative institution of the Castilian language, in an attempt to attack the unity of Catalan, employing arguments that were, in fact, absolutely untenable from the scientific point of view and which may be read in the text of the Green Paper. The Valencian Generalitat (Regional Government) continues to close classes and educational lines in Valencian (Catalan) in public-sector schools, meaning that for more than one hundred thousand pupils it is no longer possible to receive the education asked for by their parents in the Valencian language. Catalan sign language Though funding for the Catalan sign language was established by the third final provision of State Act 27/2007, of 23 October, recognising the sign languages of Spain and regulating the means of support for oral communication of deaf, hearing impaired and deaf-blind people, the money has never actually been made available. Government of Catalonia 18