The Petitions Committee of the European Parliament (EP) urged the Catalan and Spanish authorities this Tuesday to ensure that teaching in Catalan schools gives the same treatment to Spanish and Catalan “in teaching and curricular hours” and that No child is discriminated against for being Spanish-speaking. In this sense, the final report, approved by the right and the extreme right and which is not binding, openly speaks of “cases of social exclusion, intimidation and bullying of children and parents” and calls for sanctioning the “perpetrators” of these Actions.
It is one of the final recommendations of the report on the mission to Catalonia carried out in December 2023 by a dozen MEPs to examine linguistic immersion in the community’s schools, which toughens the tone of the first draft debated in this commission a year ago. month, adds, among other warnings, its concern that the Catalan linguistic regime effectively limits European freedom of movement.
The mission was attended by deputies from the groups of the European People’s Party, Renew Europe and the Conservatives and Reformists, but not from the progressive bench, who considered that the agenda of meetings was “politicized.”
The report has gone ahead with the votes of conservatives and the extreme right despite the boycott of progressive groups, which described the final text as “partisan.”
After introducing the amendments, and in line with the draft that was already released last February, the MEPs reiterate their “concern” about the “controversies” generated by the immersion model in Catalonia. In the document, they openly talk about “cases of social exclusion, intimidation and bullying of children and parents” and ask to punish the “perpetrators” of these actions.
In parallel, they condemn that Catalonia “makes it difficult” for families who move to the country so that their children can study in Spanish and they defend the facilitation of schooling in Spanish for those students who request it. At the same time, they ask national authorities to guarantee “equitable” treatment between both languages ??and recommend the preparation of an independent analysis to continue evaluating the linguistic immersion model in the country.
The compromise amendments voted on this Tuesday have been introduced by the leader of the mission that visited Catalonia, Yana Toom, an Estonian MEP from the Russian minority and who has expressed on previous occasions that her linguistic community – Russian – suffers discrimination.
The rest of the members present at the mission were also from a conservative and far-right majority, including the Polish ultranationalist Kosma Zlotowski, the Vox MEP Jorge Buxadé and several members of the Popular and Citizens Party.
On the progressive side, MEPs such as Diana Riba were present at the mission, although from the beginning they already expressed their intention to boycott the petition. In fact, Riba has not included any amendments to the draft and she recently reproached the commission’s president, Dolors Montserrat, for accepting cases related to the Catalan school while she denied similar requests in other countries.
On behalf of Junts, MEP Toni Comín also criticized “the harassment” of linguistic immersion by right-wing and far-right parties and pointed out that the report on the European Parliament’s mission “has no meaning whatsoever.”
The text, in this sense, is not binding, since the European Union does not have powers to legislate on the organization of the educational systems of the member states.
