The post-electoral pacts between PP and Vox after the municipal and autonomous elections in May, and the claim to promote the co-official languages ??in Congress as a result of the constitution of the Courts after the July elections, are reviving old quarrels over the language that have been resolved until now in the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community.
In the case of the Balearic Islands, the PP and Vox pacts are being fulfilled step by step and the Governing Council yesterday approved a decree-law so that the Catalan language requirement disappears as of today as a requirement to work in public health in the community, which in practice means going back to the time of former president José Ramón Bauzá, who was the first to abolish the obligation to lower it to merit.
President Marga Prohens’ decision, a condition for Vox to support the investiture despite not entering the government, had a quick reaction from the ultra leader Santiago Abascal, who arrogated to himself the approval of the measure. “Many criticized them without reading them, but the agreements in the regions where Vox is present are already producing beneficial effects for the Spanish”, he emphasized on social networks.
The Balearic Minister of Health, Manuela García Romero, yesterday defended the change because it is an “outcry” on the part of the medical unions and because, in her opinion, the requirement was another obstacle to getting professionals. The Government of Prohens states that the measure aims to continue progressing in terms of the “professionalization” of personnel with health functions, so that the access of the “most qualified” professionals will be allowed without the lack of official accreditation of a certain level of Catalan becomes a dissuasive element.
The Ministry of Health also announced that it will “ensure” that health workers who are not required to speak Catalan can be trained “to facilitate citizens’ right to use either of the two official languages ??in their relations with the Administration” , as indicated in a statement.
Language has also been a source of controversy in Valencia. Until yesterday The new president, Carlos Mazón, expressed his “absolute respect” for the Valencian Language Academy (AVL), a statutory body created by Eduardo Zaplana in 1998 that defends the unity of Catalan and Valencian, of which he recognized the “academic and scientific authority”. Despite this, the president asked for “sensitivity” from the Academy to open a dialogue that allows “to integrate a part of the social and political Valencianism that has felt distant from the institution”.
Mazón wanted, therefore, to conclude the controversy generated last week about the legitimacy of the AVL after statements by the Minister of Education, José Antonio Rovira, of the PP, in which he affirmed that the entity “does not have the absolute truth about Valencian” and in which he accepted “the use of other variants of Valencian”. Mazón insisted yesterday that “the entire Council recognizes the authority of the AVL”, although “it has lacked gestures of integration and sensitivity”, so he announced that he will meet with the president of the institution , Verónica Cantó.
“Valencian is spoken here and as president of the Generalitat I cannot tolerate it being said that we speak something that the Statute does not say. This is the denomination and I don’t think I will tolerate or consent to it being called something else”, he added.
