The EU demands from the Generalitat "the same treatment for Spanish and Catalan as the vehicular language" of education

Victor Mondelo Barcelona

Barcelona

Updated Tuesday, February 13, 2024-15:18

The preliminary report of the mission of MEPs that in December investigated the application of linguistic immersion concludes that "the educational system in Catalonia must give the same treatment to both Spanish and Catalan as the vehicular language of teaching", something that does not happen in the current monolingual system in Catalan.

In the draft, to which EL MUNDO has had access, which is still subject to modifications and will be officially presented on Wednesday, the representatives of the European Parliament also condemn "harassment against children and parents who have been victims of incitement to hatred." " for claiming their right to "receive a balanced content of the languages ​​of education" and demands that the regional authorities, that is, the Generalitat, "closely monitor this unacceptable behavior."

The conclusions and recommendations of the European mission are preceded by a detailed account of the meetings that the MEPs held during their stay in Catalonia and their content.

Thus, the report includes, for example, how the president of the Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC),

Jesús María Barrientos

, confirmed to the MEPs the "inactivity" of the Generalitat in not establishing a "reasonable use" of Catalan and Spanish in the educational system. And how the High Educational Inspection, dependent on the Government, "breached its duty of collaboration" to execute the sentence of 25% of Spanish. The High Educational Inspection argued before the MEPs that "it does not have to execute the ruling of the TSJC that requests 25% of Catalan education."

Barrientos maintained before the members of the mission that there is "xenophobia" against parents who decide to individually go to court to demand that their child study more hours in Spanish. "There is harassment of parents and students, asking them to leave, adapt or ignoring them," said the president of the TSJC before the members of the European Parliament, according to the report. He also confirmed that the Prosecutor's Office has had to "take measures against incitement to hatred following harassment actions against students."

Likewise, Judge

Javier Aguayo

, President of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC), who handed down the sentence on the 25% of Spanish, defended before the MEPs the need to "enforce the law and judicial resolutions, and defend minorities. "Citizens cannot be asked to be heroes for exercising their rights," he added.

The report also confirms that the Generalitat sent senior officials to supervise the MEPs' visit to the schools "although they were not initially invited to attend."

Learn Spanish "with television"

The mission also describes the little interest of the Minister of Education of the Generalitat,

Anna Simó

, in serving its members. It is reflected in the document that Simó "explained that she would not be able to receive the delegation for the entire scheduled time because she had to attend an appointment with the president of the Generalitat about the latest results of the PISA report." It should be remembered that Simó called the visit of the MEPs "insane" and that she put all possible obstacles for them to visit the chosen schools.

The ERC leader defended immersion because "Spanish is spoken by 100% of the population" and attributed the decline in the use of Catalan to "the arrival of immigrants in the last 10 years." She defended that this circumstance has reduced the use of the regional language in certain territories "up to 20 or 30% of the population."

When asked about "how the objective of achieving bilingualism is met at the end of schooling without classes in Spanish, given that the current system is monolingual in Catalan," Simó responded that "it is easy to learn Spanish with the help of television." or social networks", given the "high degree of intercomprehension between Catalan and Spanish as both languages ​​have similar linguistic structures".

To justify the poor results of the PISA report, the Minister of Education has to do with "the increase in child poverty" and "it is not, therefore, a question of language."