The Balearic PP defends the linguistic measures that President Marga Prohens has implemented on the islands, which have caused one of the most massive demonstrations in recent years against the modifications approved by the PP Government. However, the spokesperson for the Popular Party in Parliament, Sebastià Sagreras, has announced that his party considers the reforms closed and will not propose new initiatives on the matter.
Thousands of people took to the streets this Sunday to ask Prohens to rectify and reverse the latest decisions he has made regarding language. The president of the PP has eliminated Catalan as a requirement to access public healthcare and has launched a pilot plan so that educational centers can decide whether to teach subjects in Spanish. The first measure appeared in the PP program, but the second was a demand from Vox to give it support in the investiture.
The PP has announced that there will be no new initiatives regarding Catalan, although the pact signed with Vox leaves the door open for new reforms to be proposed so that it is not a requirement in some positions in the public administration, beyond health. “We do not have any more active legislative amendments underway at this time but we have always said that we will ensure that every citizen. The PP does not plan any other legislative modifications regarding language,” said Sagreras.
Regarding the demonstration, Sagreras has indicated that his party is not in favor of political confrontation regarding language and has recalled that several PP mayors participated in the Correllengua, a protest race in defense of Catalan organized by Joves per la Llengua, which preceded to the great concentration in Palma. He has defended that the pilot plan for language choice that will be launched starting next year will be voluntary and does not in any case represent “a step backwards” in linguistic rights. “There is no setback or loss of rights in the pilot plan and making noise about that is wanting to argue,” he added.
He has insisted that the Popular Party does not question the unity of the Catalan language, will not promote any change in the Statute, will not change the Linguistic Normalization Law and will continue to defend “cordial bilingualism.” In any case, he has indicated that Vox is a party other than the PP that can present the initiatives it considers and that the PP will later analyze whether or not it gives them support depending on whether they appear in the pact signed after the elections.
The opposition parties in the Balearic Islands have asked the president of the Government to take note of the large mobilization that took place this Sunday in Palma. The opposition reminds Prohens that the policies that José Ramón Bauzá implemented at the time caused a historic concentration that brought more than 100,000 people to the streets of Palma, something never seen before.
