Spanish Congress certifies use of Catalan language

The Spanish Congress certified the use of co-official languages in parliamentary activity on Thursday.

The first steps were taken by the chamber on Tuesday, with the modification of regulation to allow the use of co-official languages such as Catalan, Basque, and Galician.  

On Thursday, lawmakers voted on the modification that passed with a majority of 180 votes from the Socialists, Sumar, ERC, Junts, Bildu, PNV, BNG, and CC, with 170 votes against the motion from the People's Party, Vox, and UPN. 

Amendments put forward by Vox and the People's Party with the aim of preventing the use of co-official languages in parliamentary activity were knocked back by the majority of lawmakers. 

Yet, an amendment from Basque party PNB was accepted, which will see all laws approved in the lower house be published by Congress "as an authentic version in all the languages of the state." This will mean that all versions of any law in the different co-official languages have the same legal validity.

Socialists celebrate "plural and multilingual" reality 

Other parties hailed what they consider a historic step, normalizing the reality of a "plural and multilingual" country, making the chamber "more like Spain," as Catalan Socialist MP Marc Lamuà said.

"The use of one language is never against another," Lamuà said, adding that the Socialists will take on the "responsibility" of preventing the use of other languages from becoming another element of confrontation.

Junts say Socialists acted "out of necessity"

Pro-independence Junts MP Pilar Calvo hailed the role of her party in the negotiation of this "historic milestone."

She also criticized that the Socialists acted "not out of conviction, but out of necessity."

Calvo recalled that the last time she spoke in Catalan in the chamber during the last legislature, the former congress speaker, Meritxell Batet, expelled her from the podium.

ERC hails "democratic victory"

Montse Bassa of pro-independence ERC celebrated the "historic milestone" of being able to speak in Catalan in the chamber.

The MP called the move "a democratic victory for thousands and thousands of people throughout our history."

"Catalan only advances when the laws depend on the Catalan parties," she said, before recalling that ERC has been promoting initiatives such as the audiovisual law for decades.

Sumar: "What is normal on the street must be normal in institutions"

Àgueda Micó, an MP for the left-wing coalition Sumar, spoke in Valencian in the chamber and affirmed that "plurality does not scare" anyone.

She pointed out that the reality of "what is normal on the street must be normal in institutions" and added that Spain is "diverse and plural."

"Illegal show" 

During the debate, the conservative People's Party (PP) and far-right Vox criticized what they considered an "illegal show" and a concession to the pro-independence camp. 

Vox MP María José Rodríguez de Millán accused the Socialists of making "concessions to separatism" and affirmed that the next step in this process is "the granting of amnesty to those who have staged a coup d'état," making reference to the political leaders who organized Catalonia's 2017 independence referendum.

"Crime is not only free but profitable if the Socialists need your votes to govern." she denounced.

Borja Sémper of the People's Party, who spoke in Basque in Tuesday's session, returned to Spanish for Thursday's debate and accused the Socialists of trying to use the Congress as a tool to get support from pro-independence parties in order to name Pedro Sánchez Prime Minister again.

According to Sémper, the reform "attacks parliamentary and elementary logic" because "if we have a common language we must use it to understand each other."

Sémper called the use of co-official languages in Congress an "illegal spectacle" that the PP will fight again in the future.

Simultaneous translation

During the plenary session on Tuesday, the first words in Catalan allowed were spoken in Congress. Gabriel Rufián, ERC's spokesperson in Congress, said: "I will speak in Catalan because I can, thanks to the Catalan school system, and because it is the language of my country."

The initiative to accept co-official languages in the chamber came as a result of the agreement to name the Congress Bureau, with the Socialists' Francina Armengol as speaker.

A simultaneous translation system, with a team of six certified interpreters, was deployed to allow for fluid communication in the chamber. There are also two giant screens that were already in the chamber that will offer subtitles.