Welcome to the National Pact for Language
The social use of Catalan has declined significantly in recent years, and it is now the habitual language of only 32.6% of the population, 14 percentage points less than twenty years ago. This objective situation requires the most unified response possible and a rethinking of language policies to adapt to the new reality. This is what began in 2021 with Pere Aragonès as president and culminated this Tuesday with the signing of the National Pact for the Language by the Government—now headed by Salvador Illa—, political parties, and organizations. President Isla announced that 255 million euros will be allocated this year to promoting the language, and has set a goal of adding another 600,000 speakers over the next five years. Welcome, then.
Unfortunately, not everyone was in the family photo taken at the Institut d'Estudis Catalans. Particularly noticeable was the absence of the main opposition party, Junts, and also of the CUP (Catalan Unity Party). The lack of involvement of the members of the judiciary contrasted with the presence of former president Jordi Pujol at the event, a gesture that distanced himself from his political family and reaffirmed his long-standing commitment to consensus on certain issues, such as language—and also immigration. However, it is worth noting the presence of organizations such as Òmnium Cultural and Plataforma per la Llengua, which did understand the significance of the agreement.
The argument Junts gave for not joining is that it wants to wait for the government's reaction to the foreseeable Constitutional Court ruling against immersion and in favor of imposing a 25% minimum level of Spanish in Catalan schools. But this is like mixing turnips and cabbages. Beyond the significance of the Pact's definition of Catalan as the "normal vehicular language of the education system," its value lies precisely in demonstrating that there is a broad consensus in Catalan society in favor of the national language, and that, therefore, it is a matter that must be removed from the partisan squabble. Because only in this way can Catalan overcome the enormous challenges ahead. The response to the ruling must also be as united as possible, or it will be ineffective. And we already know that the Spanish-speaking right cannot be counted on.
We must be aware that one of the unintended effects of the Process was that Spanish nationalism took advantage of the opportunity to link Catalan with the independence movement, that is, with a specific political ideology. And as much as it pains us, many people, more than we'd like to admit, fell into the trap. Depoliticizing the language issue doesn't mean depoliticizing it, because in the end, everything is political, but rather making it clear that Catalan belongs to everyone and not just to one side. And more than a problem, it's a solution. Catalan will only survive if it's able to gain new speakers who will have other languages and cultures of origin, and to achieve this, bridges must be built and maximum facilities offered.
The National Pact was born lame, but we hope it's a temporary defect and that soon we can say that 80% of Catalan society is part of it in one way or another. Any other scenario will always be bad news.
