La Franja

Catalan in eastern Aragon: unfinishe business

franja | 29 Setembre, 2006 00:24

CATALAN IN EASTERN ARAGON: UNFINISHED BUSINESS

In recent months, the Estatute of Aragonhas been reformed. This statutory reform outlines the new policies and juridical regulations for the future of this Autonomous Community, but once again it has passed over the theme of language.

In Aragon there are 50.000 Catalan speakers and their cultural and linguistic background has not been guaranteed nor promoted within the legal texts of the Community. That is to say that the historic demands for the official recognition of Catalan called for by the cultural and associative sectors of the Catalan speaking areas of Aragon, have never been taken to account at a political level. Because of this the drawing up of the new Statute was seen as an important opportunity to resolve this question. If the new text is finally accepted as is, Catalan will continue to have an arbitrary treatment in the education system, will not be recognised officially, and its regulation of use and development will be laid out by a future law; something which already has been promised in the past two legislatures. The continuance of the situation, worsened by the phenomenon of linguistic substitution of the rift in the generational linguistic transmission does not bode well in terms of the social use of Catalan.

The new Statue must be approved by the Spanish Parliament, and there is some doubt that the State will pass this Law, an outcome which would be direct contrast to the recommendations made by the Committee of Experts of the Council of Europe regarding the application of the European Charter of Regional and Minority Languages and may not give validity in law to the proposal of the European Council of Ministers.

To avoid these fears become reality, different groups in Eastern Aragon which have been working for official recognition of the Catalan language have submitted a new statotury proposal to the Spanish Parliament and demand that the Spanish State fulfils its compromises with the European Institutions within its territories. The rights of the different linguistic communities cannot be ignored in the Europe of the 21st century.

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Links to sites with general information on Catalan.

Catalan in Eastern Aragon
Generalitat de Catalunya Government of Catalonia
Govern de les Illes Balears Government of the Balearic Islands
Parlament de Catalunya Parliament of Catalonia
Eurotribune European Independent Journal
Catalonia Today A catalan newspaper in english