Controversy over Catalan as requirement for public servants
Pro-independence Esquerra defends ‘multilingualism’ after unionist Ciutadans suggested Spanish should be the only language required for public function
The Catalan language is at the center of the political debate in Spain once more after unionist Ciutadans proposed suppressing Catalan, Galician and Basque languages from the requirements for public servants in the territories where they are officially used alongside Spanish. This would mean that Spanish would be the only language required in Catalonia for public functions, even though both Catalan and Spanish are equally official in the country.
Esquerra responded to Ciutadans’ initiative by proposing a recognition of Spain’s multilingualism in the Spanish congress. The pro-independence measure includes making Catalan, Basque and Galician official in the whole of Spain and not only in the territories where they are spoken.
“Merit” and not “barrier”
This initiative goes against Ciutadans’ proposal. The unionist party claims that the requirement to understand a language is now a “barrier” but it should be considered only as a “merit.” An official for En Comú Podem, in between both the pro-independence and unionist blocs, said that Ciutadans is “declaring war on plurality” and multilingualism with the measure.