The future Basque Education Law is one of the regulations of the legislature and, at times, seemed to be supported by a consensus of up to 90% of parliamentary representation. The beginning of a new electoral cycle and the proximity of the successive appointments with the polls, however, advance the possibility that it will be necessary to wait until the next legislature to recover the consensus and approve it. If the initial position of Podemos has been nuanced in recent months to the point of being in opposition to this rule, via an amendment to the entirety, now it is the Basque socialists who show, with increasing clarity, their doubts about it.
The general secretary of the PSE-EE, Eneko Andueza, has indicated in an interview on Radio Euskadi that, in his opinion, the calendar does not play “in favor of the law” as there is just over a year left to exhaust the legislature and it will not be “easy” for the law to be approved since “the discrepancies are evident”.
“Rush is not a good adviser. It is an education law, something very serious. We are going to do things well and not rush to make a law with gaps and deficits… I prefer to have a good law that guarantees a good future than walking quickly and running”, has specified.
These statements by Andueza come after his party sent a press release last week stating that his group, a partner of the PNV in the Basque Government, had given the green light to the processing of the Basque Education Law project so as not to hinder its processing, despite the fact that they maintain discrepancies with the articulated text sent to the Basque Parliament for its approval before the end of the legislature.
The Socialists expressed their doubts, above all due to the fact that the text does not contain any reference to the current Basque linguistic models: A (Spanish as the vehicular language), B (Basque and Spanish as vehicular languages) and D (Basque as the vehicular language), in all three cases with subjects in English in most centers.
Not surprisingly, the option that seemed to arouse a general consensus around the issue of the coexistence of the co-official languages ​​and English was to set linguistic objectives and, from there, leave autonomy to the centers. In other words, it went from a system of linguistic models to one in which each center would design its own model, always guaranteeing that at the end of ESO, competence in the two co-official languages ​​(B2) and “sufficient knowledge” of one would be guaranteed. foreign language (B1 in English).
A year ago the PNV, EH Bildu, the PSE and Podemos agreed on a basic text in which, in linguistic matters, the aforementioned approach to linguistic objectives was agreed, without mentioning the linguistic models A, B and D. The purple party has abandoned that consensus, alluding to his doubts regarding how the other two Gordian knots of the norm will be channeled: the coexistence between the public and subsidized networks, and the fight against school segregation, two closely related issues. The PSE, for its part, expresses its doubts about the language issue.
Faced with the approach that had enjoyed consensus a year ago, the PSE proposes to set linguistic objectives, although maintaining the current scheme of models. The position of the PSE generates some contradictions, since it has been shown that the current system of models, as it is conceived today, does not make it possible to achieve the aforementioned linguistic objectives. In any case, the Minister of Education of the Basque Government, the peneuvista Jokin Bildarratz, has indicated that the linguistic models do not disappear, which are already included in the Euskera Law, of 1982, where they were mentioned for the first time and which remains in force .
Andueza has indicated that if, as counselor Jokin Bildarratz says, the linguistic models are not eliminated “and there is no doubt that they are going to be preserved, there is no reason” to resort to a second law. that the models are maintained is to incorporate them into the current law”, he argued.
Beyond this controversy, what is eloquent is that notice from Andueza regarding the possibility of putting this rule on hold until the next legislature. And it is that without the support of the PSE there will be no new Education Law. The PNV wants to have at least the support of the Socialists and EH Bildu, who add up to around 80% of the representation in the Basque Parliament. It also remains to be seen how the jeltzal ranks react to Andueza’s position, taking into account the precedents and the importance that the PNV attaches to the approval of this norm.
