First year of the National Pact for the Language: "The situation of Catalan is like that of trains, it requires shock measures"

BarcelonaA year has passed since the signing of the National Pact for Language, which was supposed to mark a turning point in the linguistic policies implemented by the Generalitat de Catalunya, with the horizon of 2030. During this time, the main players who were not present at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans meeting, such as Junts, the CUP, USTEC, or the ANC, have not joined. However, municipal policy has been decisively activated, and more than 200 town councils in the country have joined, taking on their role in promoting the language. A line of aid has been created so they can offer Catalan courses.a line of aid so they can offer Catalan courses.

The National Pact for Language represented "the political, civic, and social awareness" that Catalan is in a crisis of use that for years had been hidden or positively framed, and it was accompanied by a record budget: 255 million in the first year. The Department of Linguistic Policy also foresees, if approved, a budget of 85 million, which contrasts with the 30 million that Linguistic Policy managed ten or twenty years ago.

The Pact set some very specific goals, such as the objective of achieving 600,000 new speakers in five years — when in the previous five-year period half that number, 267,600, had been gained —. For this reason, the minister announced a shock plan for adult Catalan learning with 140,000 places in 2026, and a supplementary increase of 50,000 places for basic courses for immigrants regularized extraordinarily to whom

residence is requested. If the action in Catalan courses has been decisive, in other key areas such as education, university training, teacher training, justice, commerce, and the official status of the language, progress has been more scarce and sporadic.

The Government will provide a quantitative assessment of the pact next week. ARA has asked experts for a qualitative assessment of the launch of the National Pact for Language in its first year of implementation.

What is the best or what has been done well? What is the worst or what has not been done?Màrius Serra

Writer and member of the IEC

1.It is good to start focusing on the real linguistic conflict, which is the marginalization and subsequent replacement of Catalan in the territories where it is the native language, after many years of complacent de-problematization. It is good that the Catalan language is put on the political agenda and that resources are allocated to educational offerings, with the understanding that Catalan must be a factor of social progress for those who learn it.

2.

The vigor shown to enforce existing linguistic norms, the vague response to the ruling on Spanish in classrooms, the timidity in crossing regional boundaries, and the requirement of Catalan in all administrative spheres are insufficient. The sociolinguistic situation is similar to that of the railway network and, therefore, requires the same shock measures.

Michael Angel Pradilla

Sociolinguist and professor at URV

1."It starts from a good diagnosis that has led the institutional political world to unreservedly assume linguistic minoritization. The battery of actions that has been planned and the, still partial, execution of the programmed interventions place us before the most intense planning action carried out to date. The actions and the budget will undoubtedly have an impact. A linguistic and, therefore, social change requires time and, above all, placing the intervention in the right direction".

2."The Pact is born lame because it lacks political, institutional, and social agents, which weakens the colossal challenge ahead of us and keeps the language issue in a dynamic of political confrontation that does not help to reach consensus. The current situation of the Catalan language is one of extraordinary weakness; therefore, great problems require great solutions and I fear that the Pact has fallen short. The educational, healthcare, business, and digital worlds require profound and intense interventions, and I see no symptoms of model changes. We must break the legal ceiling that holds us back, otherwise we will not succeed. The key question is whether conflict should be assumed. I am of the opinion that it must be assumed when not assuming it leads us to the precipice".

Mireia Plana

Vicepresident of Plataforma per la Llengua

1."A good initial diagnosis has generated consensus on the fact that the situation is bad. Due to the absurd triumphalism of previous governments, the use of the language has been declining without taking action to stop it. A firm commitment has been made to teaching Catalan to adults, and with the creation of the A1 level, although insufficient. It is the most powerful commitment in favor of the language that has been presented in the last 20 years and, therefore, it must be given time to consolidate".

2."It is not de facto a National Pact because not all the political actors who support Catalan as a language of social cohesion are involved: it is an ambitious government plan, but without national scope. It has not been achieved that the other government advisors, not even the president himself, make it their own, and hence measures are not being advanced in areas such as education, business, health, justice, and everything related to leisure (sports, culture, audiovisual). There has not been a before and after of the Pact".

Gerard Furest

Professor and union representative

1."The Pact puts linguistic rights on everyone's agenda, and it has even led to a certain competition to see who does more. It is interesting that the PSC is leading it because it brings in more resources from everywhere and broadens proactivity towards the language, meaning, it is not an issue for 'indepes'. It also broadens the areas from which action can be taken. Because the future of Catalan does not depend on the National Pact or 200 million a year [the minimum annual investment foreseen for it], it depends on the Pyrenean Olympic Games, Hard Rock, the airport expansion, and who buys housing in Barcelona. The pact finally addresses this in the preamble, but does not tackle it because neither the powers nor the parties are aligned on it. The Pact has activated municipal linguistic policy, which is key for Catalan to reach spaces like major festivals, nursery schools, extracurricular activities, or signage. That there is more investment for the Consortium for Linguistic Normalization for Catalan courses is also positive, although we must pay attention to usage and not only to learning".

2."A problem with the Pact is that no budget has been approved and, therefore, the pact is in limbo. It is very difficult to change decades-long dynamics in which the language has not been central: the departments of Linguistic Policy are the manifestation of a failure, and it is because it means that for 27 years the linguistic policy law has not been enforced. The proscribed word is imposed but it is that for there to be more use, Catalan must be necessary, and for that it must be mandatory: pedagogy must be done, training must be done, linguistic requirements must be set, files must be opened and sanctions must be imposed. It cannot be that linguistic violations have grown by 650% in a decade and a citizen organization like Plataforma per la Llengua has to litigate the case. We can no longer pretend that immersion works: the use of the language among young people is below zero, and the pact ignores it. And in audiovisual, 3Cat and ICEC cannot finance products in Spanish and not commit to creating ten international-level series in Catalan. A language is not just a feeling: it is a market".

Joan Abellà

General Director of Accent Obert

1."The most important thing is that the language returns to be at the center of the country's collective project and not a sectoral cultural or educational policy. The value of the Pact will depend on the capacity to generate new consensuses and shared commitments. We celebrate that the decisive importance of the digital sphere is recognized. Catalan must be in the classroom, in the media, and on the street, of course, but also in search engines, on platforms, on devices, and in tools based on artificial intelligence. Language is also a matter of infrastructure. Catalan cannot be limited to being a protected or symbolically recognized language; it must be a useful, functional, and competitive language".

2."The main risk is to remain in a merely declarative pact and not an operational program with the necessary resources. Catalan needs fewer declarations of intent and more executive governance, with priorities, periodic and auditable public indicators, and real capacity to influence actors; among them, the large global technological platforms. The risk of linguistic disappearance or substitution is no longer so much explicit prohibition, but the performance differential of a language in new environments. In this battle, Catalan culture is at stake as to whether it will continue to be a culture capable of contributing to the global future or if it will be limited to preserving its own past".