The Constitutional Court will analyze the Balearic law that eliminates the requirement for Catalan to access a position in public health. In its session this Tuesday, it accepted for processing the appeal presented by deputies from the PSOE and Sumar against this regulatory change promoted by the government of Marga Prohens with the support of Vox. The Constitutional Court does not go into the substance of the matter for now, but agrees to study the appeal, which was promoted by the Balearic Cultural Work (OCB).
The suppression of the Catalan requirement in healthcare was one of Prohens’ first decisions after being elected president of the Balearic Islands with the support of Vox. The Balearic executive argues that the requirement of Catalan for certain health groups is one of the causes that causes a deficit of specialized personnel on the islands, with a special impact on Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera.
In the same decree law approved by the Balearic Parliament, a series of financial compensations were also included for doctors who opted for these positions that were difficult to fill. The Minister of Health, Manuela García, recognized at the time that the main cause of the lack of health personnel on the islands is due to economic reasons, especially problems in accessing housing, but, in line with Prohens, she specified that other reasons should be eliminated. obstacles that complicate the arrival of health personnel, in this case knowledge of Catalan.
In presenting the appeal, the representative of the OCB Antoni Llabrés denounced that the elimination of this requirement “constitutes a setback in the legal status of the Catalan language that is neither reasonable nor proportionate, and contrary to the normalization mandates.”
“Citizens of the Balearic Islands will see their right to communicate with the health administration in their preferred language mutilated, if this is Catalan, which represents a violation of the right of linguistic choice included in the Statute,” added the representative of the entity in its rejection of the new linguistic regulations.
The OCB has started a campaign against this and other Prohens measures in relation to administrative limitations on Catalan, including the possibility for parents to choose, starting next year, the language in which their children study. This is one of Vox’s demands and 20 million have already been reserved in this year’s budget to launch a voluntary pilot plan in schools.
One of the most controversial measures that will be implemented throughout this exercise is the creation of a linguistic surveillance office that will be in the hands of Vox and will depend on the Parliament. For this year it has a budget of 750,000 euros and Vox’s initial proposal is that this body has the capacity to sanction institutions that do not respect bilingualism.
The arrival of Prohens to the Balearic Government has meant a change in linguistic policy with respect to her predecessor, Francina Armengol. The last Balearic executive that was in the hands of the PP, led by José Ramón Bauzá, also promoted linguistic changes in education, which resulted in the largest demonstration called in the history of the Balearic Islands, with more than 100,000 people in the streets of Palm.
