Discomfort in the PP over its role with Catalan in Europe

BarcelonaThe debate on the official status of Catalan in the European Union has put the belligerent attitude of the PP in the spotlight: they have explicitly acknowledged that they made calls on countries to derail the measure, as stated by the secretary general of the Catalan People's Party (PP), Santi Rodríguez. In any case, their opposition has not been of the same intensity everywhere: there are autonomous regions that do not reject official status or would even welcome it, and in the case of Catalonia, there has been discomfort and a certain internal unrest with the way this battle has been handled. The official status of Catalan has thus become a headache for the PP, although for the PP, it was supposed to be another offensive against the Spanish government.

After Rodríguez's words, on the very day the European Union postponed the official status of the language, the PP already showed equivocation. The clearest example was that of the party's spokesperson in Parliament, Juan Fernández, who initially denied "calls on this matter," but also made it clear that he was not denying anything his secretary general had said the day before. To avoid reinforcing his maneuvers against the official party, he focused on criticizing Pedro Sánchez and denouncing a "political operation" by the Spanish government to maintain the support of Junts. This Wednesday, in an interview on Més324, the leader of the PP in Barcelona, ​​Daniel Sirera, contradicted the PP's general secretary: "I don't know what Santi Rodríguez said. I have no evidence that he did it [that the PP had made calls against the official party's Catalan status]."

Santi Rodríguez's position and, in general, his outright rejection of the official party have caused internal discomfort. All sources consulted report that the origin was "a mix-up" by the general secretary when he spoke at the press conference. Because according to various sources, no calls were made from the Catalan PP, neither from Feijóo nor from Dolors Montserrat, as the party's national leadership has also been reporting. Furthermore, they maintain that it's not that they're against Catalan in Europe, but rather the context: which is to maintain the stability of the Spanish government. In any case, they admit that they have not been successful in their explanations.

Other sources make it clear that Rodríguez "explained himself very poorly" and that his intervention "was not appreciated" either in Catalonia or in Madrid. They even believe that "everyone in the party thinks Catalan is fine in Europe" or at least a "majority" does, but that "it's annoying that [Carles] Puigdemont is taking credit for it" and that it could be achieved through "blackmail" by him. They also believe it's a mistake to criticize the official status itself, while adding that in Galicia they have asked for Galician to be made official. These sources also believe it is necessary to address the decline in the social use of Catalan.

Among other things, they mention Feijóo's regionalism with his support for the use of co-official languages, which has led to attacks from pro-Spanish associations such as Hablamos Español. Another PP leader concludes: "If Catalan could be official, it would be perfect," despite the "difficult feasibility." This leader is "sad" about what he believes Pedro Sánchez is using Catalan for political purposes, but avoids criticizing his party's management beyond the phone call mess.

The Galician and Basque PP

Following the example of Galicia, the PP has maintained a different approach there, as well as in the Basque Country, while in the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Country they have opted for equidistance and indifference. They have also demonstrated linguistic secessionism, as if Valencian and Catalan were not the same language. In the case of Galicia, the PP has always supported all advances in the language and has historically defended the official status of Galician. The PP also repeated the mantra that behind everything lies "the demand for independence," but pledged to defend greater use of Galician in Europe. Rather than opposing official status as such, they focus on attacking political negotiation. BNG. Along the same lines, the leader of the Basque PP, the moderate Javier de Andrés, denied on Wednesday to Radio Euskadi any maneuvers by his party, linking it to difficulties and costs. In the Balearic Islands, where the PP has a regionalist bent, they remain silent. reports Anna Mascaró.