SPAIN: Spain’s national parliament in Madrid has granted permission for the use of three minority languages following a concession to Catalan separatists by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
Madrid has also advocated for these languages—Catalan, Basque, and Galician—to be recognised as official languages within the European Union, although this proposal has faced opposition from certain other member states.
A member of Prime Minister Sanchez’s Socialist Party (PSOE) started speaking in Galician during the session, but Maria Jose Milla, the head of the parliamentary group for the extreme right Vox party, cut him off, objecting to his use of the language.
The speaker reprimanded Milla, leading to all 33 lawmakers from Vox walking out of the chamber in protest. They left their translation devices on the prime minister’s chair, who is presently attending the UN General Assembly in New York.
Vox is against Spain’s existing system of decentralised regional powers and has advocated for a national referendum that would prohibit separatist parties.
“We don’t want to be complicit in the breakdown of our coexistence,” Milla conveyed to reporters.
While the main opposition, the conservative Popular Party (PP), is somewhat less hostile, it insists that the use of minority languages should only be permitted with formal approval.
These regulations were approved with 176 votes in favour, 169 against, and two abstentions after lawmakers listened to live translations of all three minority languages into Spanish. Catalan, Basque, and Galician had previously been prohibited in the lower house, although there were partial allowances for them in Spain’s upper chamber, the Senate.
Miriam Nogueras, a member of the Catalan JxCat party, said, “This is a historic day… Finally, the rights of Catalan speakers are being respected.”
Sanchez made this concession in exchange for JxCat’s support, as they emerged as a decisive force in the election, backing the PSOE’s choice for parliamentary speaker.
Spain has also called on the European Union to designate the three languages as official within its institutions, fulfilling another of JxCat’s demands.
The matter was discussed by senior diplomats in the EU earlier on Tuesday. However, some member states have opposed this move, citing concerns that it might set an undesirable precedent and potentially lead to the recognition of other minority languages.
Currently, there are 24 official languages in the EU, along with around 60 regional and minority languages. Any inclusion of additional official languages requires unanimous agreement from all 27 member states.
Approximately 9 million individuals in Spain’s northeastern regions and the Balearic Islands speak Catalan, with a smaller population in France.
Approximately 2 million individuals in northwestern Spain use Galician as their language, while Basque is spoken by around three-quarters of a million people in the northern Basque Country and Navarra region.
The linguistic changes and the appeal to Europe coincide with Sanchez’s efforts to win the support of Catalan separatist parties for his investiture vote.
Although he is currently serving as a caretaker prime minister, Sanchez will have to wait until the end of September for an opportunity to secure the position for a longer term.
Alberto Nunez Feijoo, the leader of the PP, whose party secured the most seats, is first in line to attempt to form a government. However, Feijoo, who is fluent in both Spanish and Galician, has so far been unable to build a coalition large enough to secure a majority.
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