Plataforma per la Llengua has welcomed the rebuke for Spain for imposing 25% teaching in Spanish in schools included in the Council of Europe's expert report, and the committee's acknowledgement that in recent years there has been an increase in breaches of the European Charter of Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML). The document was drawn up by the Committee of Experts that periodically assesses the degree of compliance with the ECRML, after meeting with Plataforma per la Llengua and other organisations that defend Catalan in January in Barcelona and receiving a report coordinated by the Catalan organisation compiling all the breaches of the charter committed in recent years.
The report from the Council of Europe's experts states that, in the last five years, the situation of Catalan has worsened everywhere in the regions of Spain where the language is spoken in areas such as education, justice, public administration and the media. These are some of the aspects of the ECRML that Spain pledged to comply with in 2001 (and never did so in full). In Catalonia, the experts detected four improvements and 15 reverses; in the Balearic Islands, two improvements and 18 reverses; in the Valencian region, three improvements and 17 reverses; in Aragon, no improvements and five reverses, and in Murcia, three improvements and four reverses.
In Catalonia, the experts show "deep concern" over the imposition of a minimum of 25% Spanish in classrooms. The report also warns of the situation of the language in the justice system, an area where, according to the committee, "Catalan continues to be marginalised in criminal, civil and administrative proceedings", violating citizens' rights to justice in Catalan. With regard to the public administration, the report criticises the lack of basic knowledge of Catalan among some groups of civil servants, which generates discrimination in access to public services for Catalan-speaking residents. The media also receives special attention in the report, as the experts note that reciprocity between the media in the various Catalan-speaking territories has worsened, which means television stations in Catalan from one region cannot be seen in another. In the economy, Spain continues not to guarantee that safety instructions, medicine information leaflets and consumer rights information must include Catalan.
An even more alarming decline in the Balearic Islands and the Valencian region
The situation is even worse in the Balearic Islands and the Valencian region. In the Balearic Islands, the situation of the language has worsened in infant, primary and secondary schools, and there is particular concern about compliance with the requirements by private schools with public funding and in vocational training. The report also deplores the fact that no control body has yet been set up to monitor this. In the justice system, Catalan continues to be marginalised in criminal, civil and administrative proceedings, and the formal right to use Catalan is not guaranteed, which worsens the situation of Catalan speakers in judicial proceedings. In the public administration, Spanish officials who work in the Balearic Islands do not have sufficient knowledge of Catalan, which generates discrimination against residents in access to public services. In particular, the Committee of Experts laments the situation in health, where "the chances of receiving services in Catalan are poor". Moreover, Decree Law 5/2023 "could worsen the situation in the future". The experts consider this decree "particularly regrettable". In homes for the elderly, "Spanish is used in most services". In the media, reciprocity between the Catalan-speaking territories is getting worse and the report recalls that the Balearic Islands should be facilitating the broadcasting of channels in Catalan from other Catalan-speaking territories, and vice versa. With regard to the economy, the document notes that safety instructions and consumer rights information continue not to include Catalan.
In the Valencian region, where the Catalan language is called Valencian, the Council of Europe's Committee of Experts is concerned about the regional minister José Antonio Rovira's new education law because it will drastically reduce its presence throughout the country, especially in Spanish-speaking areas. In the justice system, the report warns that current legislation does not guarantee that the jurisdictional bodies can process proceedings in Valencian at the request of the parties. The report also notes that, although it is said that the defendant or the litigant can use Valencian, in practice this is not the case. As for public administration, the experts conclude that, despite the significant increase in the use of Valencian in recent years, discrimination continues, and, without a language requirement for workers, it will never be possible to guarantee the citizens' right to be dealt with in Valencian. Finally, the text laments the lack of private media in the local language, and deplores the fact that the new À Punt law marginalises the language and makes its situation worse. As in the other regions, it also notes that there is not the reciprocity there should be between the Catalan media in the different Catalan-speaking territories.
The recommendations of the Council of Europe's Committee of Experts
Taking into account all these breaches, the document makes recommendations for States to carry out actions, some of them immediate. The experts call on Spain to immediately guarantee that teaching in Catalan will be available at all levels and that Catalan speakers can interact in Catalan with the local offices of the Spanish State administration. They also recommend that measures be taken soon to guarantee the use of the language in social and health facilities and for legislation to ensure that courts conduct criminal, civil and administrative proceedings in Catalan at the request of one of the parties, including action to enforce this.
The report also recommends measures to republish the Official Spanish State Gazette (BOE) in Catalan (which has finally been announced, although the Catalan version is only a partial one), publish a breakdown of figures on the number of criminal, civil administrative proceedings held in Catalan, and guarantee the possibility for Catalan to be used in providing public services. Finally, with regard to the Valencian region, the experts also recommend overseeing the use of the language in the economy, especially in the financial and banking system. The executive body of the Council of Europe, the Committee of Ministers, will have to evaluate the report and the experts' recommendations, and decide which ones it will pass on to Spain to ensure it complies with the objectives of the Charter.
