Vic City Council condemned for demanding excessive Catalan proficiency from a civil servant

BarcelonaVic City Council has been sentenced for requiring an excessively high level of Catalan to fill a civil servant position in the brigade, according to the 15th Administrative Court of Barcelona. The city council of the Osona province held a public competition for the position of cemetery and maintenance worker, for which it required a B2 level of Catalan, an intermediate level. Following a complaint from Catalan Civic Coexistence, the court ruled that "the indiscriminate elevation of the requirement to level B2 is not connected with the functions" of the job and "creates an access barrier with an exclusionary effect for those who do not demonstrate that level." Therefore, it declares the conditions void and specifically requests that an A2 level of Catalan, the basic level, be required.

The sentence, which has been advanced, The World The ruling, which ARA has already had access to, analyzes what it means to have a B1 and A2 level, and argues that "the position is eminently manual, without the requirements of complex linguistic interaction," and that, therefore, the basic level is sufficient. The law states that, indeed, for personnel selection processes, it is necessary to prove knowledge of Catalan, both spoken and written, but "to the degree appropriate to the duties of the position." "We will appeal the ruling because we believe that the City Council has the right to require a level of Catalan in public calls to ensure that a civil servant can interact fluently with citizens, colleagues, companies, and the institution, something that goes beyond manual and mechanical work. We cannot underestimate the role played by any level of government. All the laborers, Albert Castells (Together)."

The ruling states that the City Council commits "direct discrimination based on language" and orders it to pay 1,000 euros. "The requirement of knowledge of the co-official language is legitimate if it is proportionate and related to the duties of the site," the text states. The judge believes the requirement of B2 is disproportionate, while the Vic City Council believes that the 4th year of compulsory secondary education (ESO) level for a civil servant is "a minimum" to "guarantee the linguistic rights of the citizens of Vic, of the brigade's colleagues, and of their superiors."

The Vic City Council, which has a Department of Language, is one of those that has deployed innovative policies to strengthen Catalan, "policies that are normal and logical for any nation in the world to guarantee its language," the mayor argues. One of the actions in its plan to strengthen Catalan is to "guarantee that administrative staff have a minimum level of Catalan proficiency," including workers subcontracted by the city council. "I ask the Government that in our country, administrations have the autonomy to decide what level of Catalan they want," says Castells, who acknowledges that the city of Vic has a "long history of complaints" from pro-Spanish leaders.

The Ministry of Language Policy took a position on the case this Thursday, stating that it will have no further recourse: "The current system of language requirements has not been altered by the ruling." The statement asserted that "there is a broad social consensus that it must be guaranteed that public workers are qualified to work and serve citizens in Catalan, and the Government is fully committed."

Unanimous support

Castells speaks of judicial "persecution" in the language: "We are concerned that they want to destroy democratic policies using the justice system. We cannot allow ourselves to be intimidated. We will go as far as necessary," stated the mayor, who is confident that he has the support of the majority of citizens. This is not the case with other city councils, which, in response to complaints from Catalan Civic Coexistence, have acted preemptively and have lowered the level requested for maintenance places from B1 to A1, which is the lowest level available. Civic Coexistence has dedicated itself to challenging the public calls for applications from various municipalities, according to The World, such as Barcelona, ​​​​Hospitalet de Llobregat, Lleida or Mollet del Vallès.

Language and municipal entities have defended the council's actions. Òmnium Cultural denounces the judge's linguistic "ignorance" because B2 "is the minimum to guarantee the right to be served and work in Catalan", and they added to X: "It is time to enforce linguistic rights in the face of judges who want to make Catalan unnecessary and marginal." Platform for the Language frames the case within "the judicial offensive against Catalan" and calls the ruling "supremacist" because it marks "first- and second-class citizens", according to Rut Carandell, director of the entity. In addition, they remember that what should be put at the center are "the rights of citizens and linguistic rights, and what must be adapted is the language requirement to satisfy these rights, not the other way around." Carandell also noted that the ruling, written in Spanish, was issued by a judge who doesn't meet any language requirements to practice in Catalonia.