Estudi CEO sobre el debat territorial a Espanya (21 NOV 2019)

Visió diferenciada entre catalans i espanyols sobre soluciones al conflicte

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Fonts estadístiques, gràfics i mapes sobre el Covid-19

Fonts sobre Catalunya, Espanya, i Europa i del món.
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Els Primers Casos de COVID-19 als PPCC (21 MAR 2020)

El "Primer Cas" detectat de COVID-19 a diferents municipis i territoris.
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Pregunta de Jon Iñarritu, diputado, sobre un discurso del general Garrido, de la Guardia Civil

Jon Iñarritu Garcia, diputado de EH-BILDU, pregunta al Goberno español sobre un discurso del general Jefe de la Vll Zona de la Guardia Civil en Cataluña.
Click here if need be, to view the rest of the post.


https://twitter.com/JonInarritu/status/1172419784194969601?s=19

Según el Gobierno, los discursos ultras del general jefe de la VII Zona de la Guardia Civil en #Catalunya... “mantienen el deber de neutralidad política” #PreguntasParlamentarias #Torrente pic.twitter.com/7dXHh31dUw

— Jon Inarritu (@JonInarritu) September 13, 2019

EH-BILDU

A LA MESA DEL CONGRESO DE LOS DIPUTADOS

Jon Iñarrltu Garcia, diputado de EH-BILDU, integrado en el Grupo Parlamentario Mixto, de conformidad con Io previsto en el artículo 185 del Reglamento del Congreso de los Diputados, presenta las siguientes PREGUNTAS AL GOBIERNO CON SOLICITUD DE RESPUESTA POR ESCRITO.

El pasado 16 de mayo, Pedro Garrido, el general Jefe de la Vll Zona de la Guardia Civil en Cataluña realizó un discurso* en la Comandancla de la Guardia Civil en Cataluña, situada en Sant Andreu de la Barca (Barcelona) con motivo de la conmemoración del 175 aniversario de la fundación de la Guardia Civil. En el mismo, el general manifestó: "Somos el cuerpo que hoy en día está enfrentado al terrorismo; al independentismo radical, autócrata, sectario y supremacista; al crimen organizado y a todas las formas de actuación contra el Estado, tal como lo concibe y estipula la Constitución". 

Por todo ello, deseo conocer: 

1,-¿Comparte el Gobierno el discurso del General?
2,-¿Cuál es el independentismo radical, autócrata, sectarlo y supremacista al que se
refiere el general?
3,-¿Consldera el Gobierno que es equiparable la ideologia independentista con el
terrorismo y el crimen organizado?
4.-¿Estima el Gobierno que el general ha mantenido su deber de neutralidad política?
5.-¿Supervisó el Gobierno el discurso del general? ¿Dio su autorización al mismo?
6.-¿Ha abierto alguna investigación sobre este hecho? ¿Con qué resultado?
7.-¿Qué valoración hace el Gobierno de la presencia de la extrema derecha en las
Fuerzas y Cuerpos de Seguridad del Estado (FCSE)?
8.-¿Ha desarrollado algún plan de detección de extremismo radical en el seno de las FCSE?

Congreso de los Diputados, a 11 de junio de 2019

...ooo000ooo...

RESPUESTA DEL GOBIERNO

184/255          13/06/2019      1641 

AUTOR/A: INARRITU GARCIA J.. (GM.)

RESPUESTA:

En relación con las diversas cuestiones formuladas, se indica que las ideas expresadas por el General aludido durante su discurso respetan el marco normativo que regula el comportamiento de los miembros de las Fuerzas y Cuerpos de Seguridad del Estado. Además, se entiende que ha mantenido su deber de neutralidad politica.

Asimismo, se informa que no se supervisó el discurso, ni es necesaria la autorización y no se ha abierto investigación alguna.

Finalmente, las Fuerzas y Cuerpos de Seguridad del Estado deben actuar con "absoluta neutralidad politica" (articulo 5.1 b) de la Ley Orgánica 2/1986, de 13 de marzo, de Fuerzas y Cuerpos de Seguridad, por lo que cualquier comportamiento que no siga este principio de actuación será sancionado según está determinado por la normativa de cada uno de los Cuerpos.

Madrid,11 de septiembre de 2019

...ooo000ooo...

*

El jefe de la Guardia Civil en Cataluña: "Enfrentamos al independentismo supremacista". https://www.elmundo.es/cataluna/2019/05/16/5cdd879c21efa0827b8b4605.html

MANIFESTO by French Senators (24/3/2019)

41 senators, belonging to different political groups of the French Assembly have signed an appeal for the respect of fundamental rights in Catalonia. Here is an English translation of the text (by MS).
Click here if need be to access the whole text.

The Italian Manifesto (21/3/2019)

Several hundred citizens have signed a Manifesto in Italian, calling on Italian and European institutions to act in the conflict between Catalonia and Spain. Here is an English translation of the text (by MS).

Click here if need be to access the whole text.

Síndic de Greuges / Ombudsman on Violation of Human Rights in Catalonia

Ombudsman of Catalonia.

Official English version of part 4 of "VULNERACIÓ DE DRETS FONAMENTALS I LLIBERTATS PÚBLIQUES EN OCASIÓ DE LA REACCIÓ PENAL A L’1-O" ("VIOLATION OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND PUBLIC FREEDOMS AT THE OCCASION OF THE CRIMINAL INITIATIVES AFTER 1 OCTOBER 2017")(44 p.). May 2018

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Enviem al diputat Mikko Kärnä 10.000 postals

En aquest post hi ha la nota de premsa en anglès, i una traducció al català, emès pel diputat finès Mikko Kärnä.

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Carta d'alemanys catalans

Una carta escrita per alemanys residents a Catalunya, adreaçada a l'Ambaixada d'Alemanya  a Espanya, i al Cònsol d'Alemanya a Barcelona.

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Lawyers' manifesto upholding the right of the citizens of Catalonia to hold a referendum to decide the political future of Catalonia

Original text: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-d6U96ftQVaWDQyNTZ4dldQcEk/view

1. More than two thirds of the CITIZENS of Catalonia have for a long time been calling for a REFERENDUM to decide their future as a country. Likewise, a large majority of the REPRESENTATIVES of the people of Catalonia clearly defend this option and have put the issue repeatedly and in various ways, but always without success, to the institutions of the Spanish state. The undersigned, serving lawyers in various sectors, believe that the LAW, as an instrument of conflict resolution, has to FACILITATE THE RESOLUTION of this situation through a democratic procedure. The LAW is the precise instrument that has over history channeled the development of all societies, observing them and listening to them.

2. In a DEMOCRATIC LAWFUL STATE, such as Spain, it is the INTERNAL CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK that allows the citizens to propose substantial changes in the political and territorial organization, and that provides instruments to channel this democratic aspiration . This has been recognized in Canada and the United Kingdom, where Scotland and Quebec have held, within the respective constitutional frameworks, referenda on secession.

3. The Spanish Constitution recognizes the DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLE as a principle that structures the political and legal system, which allows limits to be imposed to the decision-making powers of the majority on dissident minority. The democratic principle makes it possible for the exercise of rights not to depend on majorities, as it is the way for minorities to be permanently protected; it thus provides a democratic opportunity to groups that for demographic reasons cannot become majority. The current constitutional system does not exclude from legality individuals or groups who have an idea of the law or of social or territorial organization that differs from or is contradictory to that of the Constitution.

4. Consequently, WE AFFIRM that inside the constitutional framework and thanks to the democratic principle, a right is recognized - which we call the "right to decide" - which grants its holders the authority to openly DISAGREE with the established constitutional order and  also with territorial unity, to PROPOSE ALTERNATIVES expressed through a democratic process - usually a referendum, in the countries in our part of the world- and to CARRY OUT the result obtained, through negotiations with representatives of the State.

5. The position of the undersigned, therefore, in this debate on the process, is to give full support to the holding of a referendum on the future of Catalonia as a political community. We - as well as others - hold that this referendum fits within the Spanish constitutional framework because, given that it is a lawful and democratic state, it provides sufficient instruments to channel this conflict. We also consider that a CONTINUOUS REFUSAL of the State would legitimize OTHER AVENUES for the citizens of Catalonia to sayd how they want to decide their future.

6. We declare that the holding of this referendum is not only LEGITIMATE, because it is called for by a vast majority of the citizens of Catalonia, but also LEGAL, because the RIGHT TO DECIDE of the citizens of Catalonia is based on the Spanish Constitution and on the weighting of its structural principles: the rule of law and democracy, alongside the unity and sovereignty of the Spanish people. For this reason, the referendum can also be LEGALLY DEMANDED of the State.

7. Finally, we believe that the LAW can never be a blocking mechanism for a society; on the contrary, it has to be the TOOL capable of coping with the concerns, the developments and transformations of the entire community, providing answers that can facilitate progress and peaceful coexistence.

Translation: M. Strubell

More info:

• https://twitter.com/JanneRiitakorpi/status/859526782046924802
• http://www.naciodigital.cat/noticia/129053/manifest/dels/juristes/favor/referendum/ja/supera/600/signants

Ruiz

"Yo lo llevaba fijo en mi mente el día 26 [de enero de 1939] cuando con las tropas de Juan Bautista me metía en el Tibidabo, en Pedralbes. No quería hacerme ilusiones. Están vencidos y soportarán, porque son gente despierta, su derrota y nuestro triunfo; pero...¿convencidos?...ah! eso ya es más difícil . Quizás imposible. Barcelona seguirá siendo el garbanzo negro de la olla nacional. Por lo menos durante un par de generaciones. Al enjuiciar así el problema catalán del presente y el porvenir, no era ciertamente de los más pesimistas. Yo he oído a más de una persona de claro juicio y temple sereno propugnar la conveniencia de un castigo bíblico (Sodoma, Gomorra) para purificar la ciudad roja, la sede del anarquismo y separatismo, y como único remedio para extirpar esos dos cánceres, señalar el termocauterio destructor implacable".

El Tebib Arrumi. Heraldo de Aragón. 4 de febrero de 1939.

Pseudònim de Victor Ruiz Albeniz, avi de Alberto Ruiz Gallardón, ex-ministre de Justícia (PP) i ex-alcalde de Madrid (PP)

Copiat de http://www.burbuja.info/inmobiliaria/nacionalismos/568452-alguien-sabria-explicar-cataluna-sera-independiente-9.html

MIDAS GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETING - English

SATURDAY, 22 APRIL 2017

Hotel AYRE Caspe, Casp 103

9.45 Presentation by Miquel Strubell, sociolinguist

http://estudiscatalans.blogspot.com/2017/04/midas-general-assembly-meeting-english.html

Catalan version: http://estudiscatalans.blogspot.com/2017/04/midas.html

Ladies and gentleman,

First of all, thanks to the organizers to make it possible for you to hear, those of you that want to, interventions made in the language that for a thousand years has characterized the Catalan people. It is a practical gesture of recognition of the value you associate to linguistic diversity and its conservation. As those of you that know me know, English is my mother tongue (I should say, “father tongue!") and it would not have been a problem for me to give this address in English. On behalf of the many people that defend these values, thanks again!

**** CLICK ON "Més informació" BELOW TO READ THE REST OF THE PAPER ****

MIDAS GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETING - Catalan

SATURDAY, 22 APRIL 2017

Hotel AYRE Caspe, 
carrer de Casp 103

Barcelona
9.45 Presentation by Miquel Strubell, sociolinguist
http://estudiscatalans.blogspot.com/2017/04/midas.html

English version: http://estudiscatalans.blogspot.com/2017/04/midas-general-assembly-meeting-english.html

Senyores i senyors,

Primer de tot, gràcies als organitzadors de fer possible que sentiu, els que vulgueu, intervencions fetes en la llengua que des de fa mil anys ha caracteritzat el poble català. És un gest de reconeixement pràctic del valor que associeu a la diversitat lingüística i a la seva conservació. Com els que em coneixeu sabeu prou bé, l’anglès és la meva llengua materna (hauria de dir, paterna”!) i no m’hauria presentat cap problema adreçar-vos aquestes paraules en anglès. En nom dels molts que defensem aquests valors, gràcies de nou!

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REPORT

Report on the political situation and the violation of fundamental rights in Catalonia
http://estudiscatalans.blogspot.com/p/report2017.html

Informe sobre la situació política i la vulneració de drets fonamentals a Catalunya

http://estudiscatalans.blogspot.com/p/informe2017.html

Entrevista al papa Francisco: "La secesión de una nación hay que tomarla con pinzas"

...
¿Le preocupa el conflicto entre Catalunya y España?

Toda división me preocupa. Hay independencia por emancipación y hay independencia por secesión. Las independencias por emancipación, por ejemplo, son las americanas, que se emanciparon de los estados europeos. Las independencias de pueblos por secesión es un desmembramiento, a veces es muy obvio. Pensemos en la antigua Yugoslavia. Obviamente, hay pueblos con culturas tan diversas que ni con cola se podían pegar. El caso yugoslavo es muy claro, pero yo me pregunto si es tan claro en otros casos, en otros pueblos que hasta ahora han estado juntos. Hay que estudiar caso por caso. Escocia, la Padania, Catalunya. Habrán casos que serán justos y casos que no serán justos, pero la secesión de una nación sin un antecedente de unidad forzosa hay que tomarla con muchas pinzas y analizarla caso por caso.

http://www.lavanguardia.com/internacional/20140612/54408951579/entrevista-papa-francisco.html

Our English translation:

...
Are you concerned about the conflict between Catalonia and Spain?

All divisions worry me. There's independence by emancipation and independence by secession. Independence by emancipation, for example, that of American countries, that were emancipated from European states. The independence of peoples by secession is a break, sometimes this is very obvious. Think of the former Yugoslavia. Obviously, the people there had such diverse cultures that they wouldn't stick together even with glue. The Yugoslav case is very clear, but I wonder if it is as clear in other cases, in other peoples that have been together up to now. They need to be studied case by case. Scotland, Padania, Catalonia. There will be cases that are fair and cases that are not fair, but the secession of a people without a prior history of forced unity must be looked at with great caution, and be analyzed case by case.

Declaració de La Pedrera

Barcelona, 28 de febrer de 2014 

El 23 de febrer la Comissària de Justícia, Drets Humans i Ciutadania i Vicepresidenta de la Comissió Europea, madame Viviane Reding, ha tingut l'amabilitat de visitar Barcelona, per exposar, de primera mà, algunes de les línies prioritàries i principals preocupacions de la Unió Europea, en un moment especialment delicat de la seva història. En aquest document volem fer unes precisions per a la seva reflexió i la de la ciutadania en general, reflexions suscitades per diferents intervencions del públic durant el debat.

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Bibliografia polítiques lingüístiques del català

Índex

• General Països Catalans
• Catalunya
• Illes Balears
• País Valencià
• Aragó
• Estat espanyol
• Andorra
• Estat francès
• Itàlia
• Marc internacional

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The Catalan language in US human rights reports

Extracts from the 

U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor's 

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

Spain

http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/1999/361.htm

The Law of the Catalan Language, approved by the Catalan regional legislature (Generalitat) in 1998, stipulates the use of Catalan as the official language in local government and administrative offices, regional courts, publicly owned corporations, and private companies subsidized by the Catalan regional government. Spanish-speaking citizens are provided with the right to be dealt with by public officials in Spanish. The legislation also establishes minimum quotas for Catalan-language radio and television programming. Many activists in Catalunya's Spanish-speaking community criticized the law for discriminating against Spanish-speaking citizens and imposing "linguistic hegemony" on a diverse population. Lawsuits regarding specific applications of this law are pending in various courts. Both Galicia and Valencia have laws stating the duty of the Government to "promote" their regional languages in schools and at official functions.

http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2000/eur/875.htm

The Law of the Catalan Language, approved by the Catalan regional legislature (Generalitat) in 1998, stipulates the use of Catalan as the official language in local government and administrative offices, regional courts, publicly owned corporations, and private companies subsidized by the Catalan regional Government.  Spanish-speaking citizens have the right to be addressed in Spanish by public officials.  The legislation also establishes minimum quotas for Catalan-language radio and television programming.  Controversy continued over the language law implementing legislation and related regulatory measures.  Facing strong resistance from film distributors, the regional government in March annulled legislation that required foreign films distributed in sufficient quantities also to be dubbed and distributed in Catalan.

In June an administrative court in Tarragona considered a challenge to a local university regulation that imposed extensive use of Catalan in university affairs.  The court, although leaving some of the regulation intact and declaring itself not competent to rule on the constitutionality of the linguistic law, struck down several sections of the regulation.  For example, the court found that the regulation's treatment of certain administrative issues and a requirement that staff use Catalan at all public university functions exceeded university authority and autonomy and were not in conformance with other laws.  Another court challenge involved the propriety of the same university's discipline of a professor for supplying copies of the university entrance examination in Spanish, rather than Catalan, to two students requesting Spanish versions.  The court ruled in December that the professor was excluded wrongly from the administration of the examinations and praised her for defending the students' rights.  The court clearly implied that the university's regulation limiting access to the exmination in Spanish was discriminatory and said that it was permissible to foster the use of Catalan but not to do so in a manner that excludes or limits the use of Spanish.   The university administration responded that it had no intention of modifying its regulation and intended to appeal the continued suspension of certain aspects of the regulation.  Notwithstanding its response, in May it began supplying the entrance examination in Spanish to those who requested it. 

http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/eur/8343.htm

…The Law of the Catalan Language, approved by the Catalan regional legislature (Generalitat) in 1998, stipulates the use of Catalan as the official language in local government and administrative offices, regional courts, publicly owned corporations, and private companies subsidized by the Catalan regional Government.  Spanish-speaking citizens have the right to be addressed in Spanish by public officials.  The legislation also establishes minimum quotas for Catalan-language radio and television programming.  Some controversy continued over the implementing legislation and related regulatory measures. 

http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002/18392.htm

The Law of the Catalan Language, approved by the Catalan regional legislature (Generalitat) in 1998, stipulates the use of Catalan as the official language in local government and administrative offices, regional courts, publicly owned corporations, and private companies subsidized by the Catalan regional Government. Spanish-speaking citizens had the right to be addressed in Spanish by public officials. The legislation also established minimum quotas for Catalan-language radio and television programming. Some controversy continued over the implementing legislation and related regulatory measures.

http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27865.htm

The Law of the Catalan Language stipulated the use of Catalan as the official language in local government and administrative offices, regional courts, publicly owned corporations, and private companies subsidized by the Catalan regional Government. Spanish-speaking citizens had the right to be addressed in Spanish by public officials. The legislation also established minimum quotas for Catalan-language radio and television programming.

During the year, the Catalan regional government signed an agreement with various socio-economic institutions to increase the use of the Catalan language in public places. The Catalan Government also rejected the Government's decree mandating a specific number of Castilian Spanish language classes in all autonomous regions, calling it an "invasion" of autonomous responsibilities. Critics contended that efforts to promote the use of non-Castilian languages made it more difficult for Castilian speakers to live and work in those areas.

http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41709.htm

Citizens have filed more than 445 complaints with the Catalan regional government denouncing the lack of compliance with the law on linguistic policy, which requires that Catalan be the official language but provides Spanish-speaking citizens the right to be addressed in their native language. The Catalan Government has penalized the Post Office for repeatedly failing to comply with Catalan law.

http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61676.htm

-

http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78840.htm

In the autonomous province of Catalonia, Catalan and Castilian are both official languages and both may be used in official institutions as well as in schools. However, during the year both Spanish and Catalan ombudsmen received isolated complaints of alleged discrimination against the use of either Castilian or Catalan (see section 5).

…

During the year the national ombudsman received approximately 50 complaints related to alleged discrimination in Catalonia, where both Castilian and Catalan are official languages, against the teaching of the Castilian language. During the year the Catalan ombudsman received 10 complaints related to discrimination against the teaching or use of the Castilian language and 33 complaints about the failure to use the Catalan language in Catalan official institutions (these complaints were from persons who wished to be served in Catalan but were served in Castilian), although the law requires that civil servants dealing with the public be able to speak both languages. Critics on one side asserted that limiting education in Castilian reduced opportunities for Catalans who wish to live or work outside Catalonia or who simply wish to speak Castilian, and circumscribed the opportunities of Castilian speakers in Catalonia. Others, however, insist on their right to be served in the Catalan language.

http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100586.htm

In October an estimated 5,000 writers, politicians, journalists, publishers, academicians, actors, and filmmakers reportedly signed a manifesto criticizing the firing of Cristina Peri, a writer/journalist for Catalunya Radio who said she was fired for speaking in Castilian rather than Catalan.

http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/eur/119106.htm

The controversy regarding official language policies continued, with complaints that current policies offend the right to an education in the "mother tongue," or Castilian Spanish. In 2007 the ombudsman received approximately 100 complaints regarding Catalonia's linguistic policies, and in March the "Platform in Defense of the Freedom of Choice in Language Election" filed a formal complaint against a school in the Basque Country.  The school had refused to offer all classes in Spanish. 

In October 2007 an estimated 5,000 writers, politicians, journalists, academicians, actors, and filmmakers signed a manifesto criticizing Cataluña Radio for firing a journalist for speaking in Castilian (Spanish), rather than Catalan (Catalonia's regional language).

http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/eur/136059.htm

In October 2008 Reporters without Borders identified ETA for threatening journalists, contending that several journalists in the country required personal protection or chose to leave the Basque Country due to such threats; the judicial sentence against the weekly El Jueves for printing an obscene cartoon of the prince and princess of Asturias; the summoning of daily Gara and Deia editors by a court for the publication of satirical images of King Juan Carlos; the Partido Popular's boycott of Grupo Prisa; and the firing of Cristina Peri Rossi by radio station Cataluña Radio for speaking in Castilian rather than Catalan.

…

The controversy regarding official language policies continued, with complaints that current policies offend the right to an education in the "mother tongue," or Castilian Spanish. In 2007 the ombudsman received approximately 100 complaints regarding Catalonia's linguistic policies, and in March 2008 the NGO Platform in Defense of the Freedom of Choice in Language Election filed a formal complaint against a school in the Basque Country. The school had refused to offer all classes in Spanish.

In April, 39 doctors at the sole hospital on Ibiza (one of the Balearic Islands) announced their decision to leave their jobs due to a new requirement that doctors be tested for fluency in Catalan. The decree, approved by the Balearic government on March 27, requires that doctors working in public service speak Catalan and provides a window of three years for them to learn it. The doctors' union asserted that the requirement was not for public benefit but rather the result of a "political obsession." In response to the decree, 2,500 persons participated in a demonstration protesting the Catalan language requirement.

According to security forces, 4,000 persons participated in a demonstration in Barcelona in September 2008 to protest the government's linguistic policies and to defend the right to have school classes taught in Castilian.

http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/eur/154452.htm

The controversy regarding official language policies continued, with some persons complaining that policies in Catalonia interfered with receiving an education in the country's majority language, Castilian Spanish. Likewise, there were instances of Catalan speakers raising concerns that the Catalan language was not equally favored.

On December 22, the Supreme Court ruled that Castilian Spanish must become a "vehicular language" or lingua franca in Catalonia's educational system. The decision involved three separate cases of Spanish-speaking parents pursuing legal action against the Catalan education system. The ruling came during the transition to the new Catalan government. Both the outgoing and incoming administrations defended the existing education model and maintained that the decision pertained to three individual cases and that no changes were needed in Catalan language policies. Catalan leaders in favor of the existing language-immersion model claimed that students could become equally proficient in Catalan and Spanish.

On September 14, the Catalan parliament approved a decree that will require new full-time professors at public and private universities to take a language examination before they are hired to prove that they have "C-level" (medium-high oral and writing communication level) proficiency in Catalan. The decree permits universities to exempt full-time research staff or professors teaching in a foreign language from the requirement. To prevent the loss of talented professors, universities can, in some cases, delay the test for up to two years after the actual date of hire. Some universities and educators criticized the decree as discriminatory, especially if the language of instruction is not Catalan.

2011 http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm?dlid=186408

On September 2, Catalonia’s Superior Court ordered the regional government to comply within two months with a 2010 Spanish Supreme Court ruling that Spanish become a vehicular language in Catalonia’s public schools. As of year's end, the Catalan government had not complied with the ruling. Catalan president Artur Mas staunchly defended the current educational model and stated that Catalonia’s language policy is a “red line” not to be crossed. Advocates of the Catalan immersion model cited studies showing that Catalan public school students performed as well as their counterparts in other parts of Spain on Spanish language proficiency tests.

2012 http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2012/eur/204341.htm

Recent Elections: National elections in November 2011 were considered free and fair, as were regional elections during the year in Andalusia, Asturias, Galicia, the Basque Country, and Catalonia*

In April the Supreme Court confirmed the suspension of seven articles of Barcelona’s regulations on the use of Catalan in the city hall that required all public documents and any oral communications to be presented in Catalan.

* Webmaster's note:  However, of the 155,923 Catalan living abroad who were registered on October 5 2012 to vote in the snap November 25 2012 election, called on the independence issue only 6% received the voting papers in time and were able to vote, as stated in the documents taken to court. This scandal was widely reported in the press, as being a deliberate strategy on the part of the Spanish government to reduce votes in favour of pro-independence parties. This is not mentioned in the 2012 Report.

Current Affairs in Catalonia (August 2012) Part 1

We recommend an article entitled "El Setge" ("The Siege") by La Vanguardia columnist Jordi Graupera. It was published on July 28th. This article should not be confused with the one written by Manel Cuyàs, with the same title, published in El Punt Avui on April 15th 2012: http://www.elpuntavui.cat/noticia/article/7-vista/8-articles/528207.html (see my English translation here: http://miquelstrubell.blogspot.com/2012/04/siege.html)

http://epaper.lavanguardia.com/epaper/mobile/articleview.aspx?bookmarkid=FDYH5JLG8QF7 

El setge (The Siege)

Jordi Graupera

(our translation)

The immediate reactions of the Spanish parties to the fiscal pact adopted by the Catalan Parliament last Wednesday coul lead one to think that a period of political confrontation between Catalan and Spanish institution is about to begin. However, the truth is quite another: the conflict broke out some time ago and the Government in Madrid has been working for months on the basis of the most radical hypothesis, taking for granted that the "uncharted territory” that CiU says we are entering is a secessionist operation.

The most graphic way of describing the Spanish Government's maneouvres is to talk about the Catalan civil servants' payroll. The State – that claims to have guaranteed cashflow until December –, instead of paying the money it is bound to do, as a lump sum for Catalan minister Mas-Colell to administer, makes monthly payments, with which the Generalitat (Catalan Goveernment) pays the payroll. But these are not made on 25th, as would be logical were minister Montoro to have the intention of negotiating something, or of “cooperating”, as he puts it. He makes the payments on the 31st, at 11.30 pm.

If you want to talk to the top officials in the President's Office or the Catalan Minitry of Economy, I recommend that you phone at the end of the month, late at night: you'll be sure to find them, they're always there, just in case the cash doesn't arrive. That's if they're lucky. Last month it didn't, and the money wouldn't have arrived in time; the Catalan minister warned that the Government might default – in which case complete political intervention would have ensued –, and Cristóbal Montoro said fine, it's your problem, you solve it. A short-term loan from a Catalan bank allowed the month to be saved. And this month the payroll will be met by the annual tax on fortunes - a feature of the Catalan tax system –, but I've seen mayors rushing because they won't have enough money to pay for services they have contracted. Next month, noone knows yet.

This situation means that the Government lives drowned by urgency, rushing to and fro putting out fires. We have a full Harvard professor acting as accountant and a whole political generation buried by bureaucracy. Moreover, any audacious moviment by our political representatives is immediatately neutralised by the civil servants' payroll. Any default would mean that 250,000 people's salary would not be paid, and that the domino effect would shatter everything. And put any end to self-government. And this is just one example. There are plenty more: yes, the siege has begun.

The only relevant question, then, is whether the Catalan Government is doing anything so as not to have to rely so drastically upon the Madrid agenda, which consists of empoverishing the Catalan Government (Generalitat), firstly to have it under its control, and then without any maneouvring leeway to dig in its heels and negotiate. A social explosion in Barcelona would be perfect for centralizing once and for all, with the assent of the world, and the only way out for Artur Mas is to appeal to the people, through any early election, and on a clearly pro-independence ticket. Time, however, is on Madrid's side: for every month he has less room in which to manoeuvre.


See previous current affairs postings on this weblog: http://estudiscatalans.blogspot.com/2012/06/current-affairs-in-catalonia.html