The independence movement uses the premiere of co-official languages in Congress to boast of being "different nations" and the PP denounces that it only seeks to "promote" Sánchez
As always when a great novelty occurs, curiosity and confusion mix.. Curiosity was quickly satisfied as the deputies took their seats and found themselves on the table with what will be their new inseparable device from today to follow the plenary sessions: headphones and a hip flask with which to listen. simultaneous translation into Spanish of interventions made in Catalan, Basque or Galician. And then there's the confusion, which looks like it will take a little longer to resolve.. Because it will take time to adapt to the new use of understanding interpreters and for all the paraphernalia that is needed to overcome its filming phase.
Galician has been the first co-official language that for the first time has been used with absolute normality in a Plenary Session of Congress. “It is a double honor,” were the first words of the socialist José Ramón Gómez Besteiro in that language, while the deputies put their hands to their ears to bring the receiver closer.. The PSOE parliamentarian has mixed Galician and Spanish to present what has been the object of the first multilingual debate in the history of the Chamber: the processing of the reform of the regulations to make official the use of Catalan, Basque and Galician on equal terms. conditions that Spanish. That is, it is possible to intervene in those languages during plenary sessions and committees or when drafting the texts of the different parliamentary initiatives.
Félix Bolaños listens to a speech in Congress with a headset. EFE
The majority of deputies that make up PSOE, Sumar, ERC, Junts, PNV, EH Bildu, BNG and CC have approved by 176 votes in favor and 169 against the admission of this change to processing and by 179 votes its processing by single reading. It will be this Thursday when, in an express procedure, the Congress regulations will be officially updated after a new vote.
The premiere of the co-official languages, which has been brought forward a few days before the change in regulations by imposition of the Congress Board, dominated by PSOE and Sumar, has led the spokespersons of the groups proposing the change in regulations to make a display of the use of Galician, Catalan or Basque to claim this “symbolic step”.
The premiere of the co-official languages in Congress, in images
But it has also served for the independence parties to present this novelty as an empirical demonstration that Spain is a “plurinational State” in which the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia are different nations, “with their own idiosyncrasy and their own reality.” linguistic and national”.
The spokesperson for Junts, Miriam Nogueras, has defended that this moment “evidences the unstoppable path towards freedom”, alluding to the independence of Catalonia.. And he has slipped that his party does not even exclude the unilateral route. “This is not about fit, it is not about matches, it is not about reunion. This is about the country, this is about the nation, about the mentality of the State, about a relationship of equals, about making ourselves respected” and about “not giving up any of the paths to achieve it.”
Nogueras has assured that Catalan deputies have the right to use their language, “a right that we have always had but that had not been respected, like the right to self-determination, which we will talk about in a few weeks”. Thus, he has delved into what “defines” them.. “It is an affirmation of our identity, a celebration of our history and a vindication of our rights as a nation,” he concluded in a speech that culminated with a “visca Catalunya lliure.”
“We are nations without a State and that is what is becoming evident today,” claimed the spokesperson for EH Bildu, Mertxe Aizpurua, “we are different nations, we have our own identity and we form our own community.”
In a speech, in which he used Basque and Spanish, he denounced that the Basque language continues to receive “secondary” treatment in the State or “discriminated against” in Navarra and has criticized the defense of its incorporation into Congress under the “story of wealth” because it places it on a “folkloric level.”
A deputy helps a fellow member put on the headset. EFE
The first intervention only in Catalan was made by Gabriel Rufián. The ERC spokesperson has defined it as a “revolutionary act” and “an honor”, but has denied that bringing Catalan to Congress represents a “victory”: “I refuse that my culture and my language require losers. “There are no losers here, at most there are ignorant ones.”
Rufián has criticized the “fragile and toxic patriotism” that seeks to demonize co-official languages: “The rights of some are not being violated. Everyone's are being recognized after 40 years. Language not only serves to communicate, but also to represent what you are.”
Néstor Rego, from the BNG, has influenced the roadmap that the Government partners seek to establish after achieving the use of co-official languages. He has said that this means “an incentive to continue moving forward, a wake-up call to the Government”, which he warned of its objective “sooner rather than later” is “the recognition” of “a nation with rights” that can exercise them to be ” a free and prosperous Galicia with a fully normalized language.”
For the rest, PSOE and Sumar have enthusiastically defended the arrival of a multilingual Congress. And they have done it using Galician. The socialist Besteiro has celebrated that “a certain historical anomaly” is overcome with the normal use of languages and that it is a change to “move forward.”
For her part, Marta Lois (Sumar), also using Galician, has defended linguistic diversity as a reason for “pride” and has pointed out that it has to be the “first step that must be accompanied by other steps” in the recognition of a “plurinational” state.
PP, Vox and UPN have been in the block against. The popular deputy Borja Sémper, who has interspersed phrases in Basque at various times, has defended the co-official languages as the heritage of Spain and also Spanish as a common language to promote dialogue between Spaniards. For this reason, he regretted that the goal of “those who aspire to division” is to use Congress to “despise what is common, the Spanish” taking advantage of “the arithmetical needs” of the PSOE to “create more confusion.”
Sémper has criticized that nationalists and independence supporters “manipulate” languages politically in search of “normalizing the division”. In addition, he has delved into the fact that the PSOE in 2022 rejected a reform similar to this one with its votes. Now, the “prancing” and “somersaults” of the socialists, the PP deputy has delved into, are only explained by the fact that Pedro Sánchez needs the votes of the pro-independence supporters.. That, he concluded, is doing “canelo”, which “is not speaking Catalan”, but rather “looking the other way”.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, during the Plenary Session of Congress this Tuesday. EFE PP: “An alibi”
The leadership of the PP has left the chamber en bloc, with Feijóo at the helm, and has indicated that the use of co-official languages even before the Congress regulations are changed “is an alibi.”
“It is not about promoting languages but about promoting a candidate” (Pedro Sánchez), sources from Feijóo's team have assured.. “If it were to promote languages, we would be in favor,” they have pointed out, but they believe that what this reform seeks is to “advance in plurinational Spain” and try to ensure that “Spanish stops being the common language.”
Asked about the phrases that Borja Sémper has pronounced in Basque from the rostrum, the sources have clarified that “what he has done has served to clarify that the regulations previously allowed not to use an earpiece” by saying some single phrase, translating it immediately.