Money, money money
Money, scramble for posts and languages in the silly season

June 24, 2024

„The 'one-off funding' for Catalonia leads to the biggest territorial break in the PSOE“ headlines elmundo.es and writes: „Not even the amnesty law has provoked so much public opposition in the party's associations“.

In Valencia, the PP and VOX form the government. No wonder the Valencian newspaper Las Provincias comments: „The debate about the one-off financing of Catalonia is nothing new. It doesn't even go back to the agreement reached between the PSOE and the ERC in November 2023 to promote the inauguration of Pedro Sanchez.“ Toni Pérez, PP mayor of Benidorm, complains: „Alicante (province in the Comunidad Valenciana) will once again be the last province in terms of investment because Pedro Sánchez has neglected his duties“

Disputes over money are the main cause of the current turmoil surrounding the formation of a government in Catalonia. That doesn't leave much room for the language dispute and the silly seamson seems to be pushing all debates about the latter it into the autumn.

The Catalan elections did not create clear majorities

Pedro Sánchez only became Spanish president with the acquiescence of the separatist ERC in Catalonia. However, this ERC lost many seats in the last election, while the separatist Junts with Carles Puigdemot won many seats. In Catalonia, however, the PSC (Socialist Party of Catalonia), i.e. the Catalan PSOE, also won. The votes of the ERC are now needed to install PSC President Salvador Illa as President of Catalonia and to pass the 2025 budget. However, these votes are not guaranteed, as the ERC has been heavily criticised by separatist Catalans for not receiving enough for its support for Sánchez. There are even fears of new elections, in which Junts could take more votes away from the ERC. More money for Catalonia could bring Sánchez the votes he needs, but this will not necessarily win him friends in Spain's other autonomous communities.

There will still be some back and forth on the issue of Catalonia's funding and if the 2025 budget is not passed as a result, new elections will be necessary again. It is therefore understandable that there is little to report on the language dispute apart from the daily skirmishes.

Clear majorities in Valencia, unclear language regulations

I can best assess the situation in Valencia, where the conservative parties PP and VOX have been in office for a year (14 July 2023). They had promised to abolish the previous government's „ley de plurilingüismo“ (law on multilingualism) and to ensure that parents have the right to choose the language of instruction. Let us first look at what was understood by multilingualism in many Valencian schools.

Instead of long interpretations of legal texts, I prefer to take a look at the entrance to the local IES (secondary level 12-18 years) as an example. Plastered with information leaflets showing that the multilingualism remained monolingual Valenciano throughout the year. Almost all the information posters are in Valenciano! Spanish is largely ignored at this school.

Anything with a negative connotation, e.g. bans and regulations, is communicated in Spanish. At the bottom right, the poster¹ on the right-hand side of the door informs the pupils about the traffic regulations for electric scooters and the penalties for offences. In keeping with tradition, everything that is positive is written in Valenciano, negative things in Spanish², as I realised back in 2019.

One thing is certain: parents have not been given the right to determine the language of instruction for their children. The changes made by the new government are still somewhat opaque. For example, in some areas of the Comunidad Valenciana, it has been decreed that Valenciano does not have to be taught. Elsewhere, the proportion of Spanish is to be increased and the compulsory use of Valenciano reduced.

The reaction of the association „Idiomas y Educación“: „22 allegations against the language norm, which aims to extend the free choice of languages to all subjects.“³ Furthermore, Valenciano is being discriminated against or attacked⁴. What nonsense. Languages have no rights and cannot be discriminated against. Only Humans have rights and are discriminated against if they cannot decide which language their children are taught in.

Footnotes

¹ VMP - Vehículos de Movilidad Prsonal. The penalties are listed under the heading „Comportamiento sancionabeles en la conducción“ next to the corresponding prohibition signs.

² Exceptions prove the rule. The smoking ban in the top left-hand door window is bilingual and the ban on bicycles and scooters in the bottom left-hand window is Valenicano

³ The article is headlined: „The gangsters of intrusiveness and separatism still claim that the new law discriminates against the Valencian language.“

⁴ The Sindicat de Treballadors i Treballadores de l'Ensenyament del País Valencià (STEPV) considers that the new language law proposed by the PP and Vox - the parties that make up the Consell - is „the worst attack on Valenciano in education“, and therefore announces that it will „promote the necessary mobilisations to oppose this aggression and prevent it from being passed in its established form“.

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