The ECHR upholds 25% Spanish in classrooms: "Catalonia is a bilingual region"

BrusselsA bucket of cold water from Strasbourg on Catalan and linguistic immersion. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has unanimously decided to dismiss the lawsuit filed by families from the Turó del Drac educational center in Canet de Mar against the ruling of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) that obliges to teach at least 25%% of classes in Spanish in Catalonia. "Prohibiting the use of Spanish as a language of instruction would deprive Spanish citizens of their right to be educated in the national language," concludes the decision published this Thursday by the European court.

The ECHR defines Catalonia as a "bilingual region" of Spain, where both Catalan and Spanish "enjoy equal status as official languages." Furthermore, since Spanish is an official language throughout the State, it considers that linguistic immersion discriminates against non-Catalan speakers. "Receiving an education in the state language is crucial to facilitate equal access for students to the state educational system and to preserve the principle of unity of the educational system," the document adds.

In fact, the Strasbourg Court asserts that linguistic immersion has resulted in discrimination among Spanish speakers and, in no way, a cohesive educational policy. Specifically, the ECHR states that the "integration of the children" of immigrants from the rest of the State who arrived in Catalonia in the past was made difficult, as they came from regions where only Spanish was spoken.

Strasbourg acknowledges that the Charter for the Protection of National Minorities aims to guarantee the teaching of minority languages, such as Catalan, but sees other ways to achieve this purpose without having to apply linguistic immersion. Thus, the ECHR considers it more appropriate to opt for bilingual or multilingual education, or simply "classes in minority languages in public schools" or "private schools for minority languages".

The European court also argues that the Council of Europe's Charter for the Protection of National Minorities "does not establish what weight" minority languages should have in curricula and, therefore, dismisses that the Spanish justice ruling, which obliges at least 25% of classes to be taught in Spanish in Catalonia, violates any right of the Catalan linguistic community. "The challenged judicial decision did not repeal the school's linguistic policy, but simply increased the use of Spanish in one or more subjects, without modifying the predominant use of Catalan as the language of instruction," argues the opinion, which considers that the TSJC ruling dictates "an adequate balance between the preservation of the unity of the educational system and the promotion of linguistic diversity".

A case for Spanish justice

Strasbourg also dismisses the arguments of the families of the educational center of Canet de Mar against the fact that Spanish justice has not taken into account the Charter for the Protection of National Minorities of the Council of Europe and assures that it is the competence of the State's courts to determine if state legislation complies with this regulation. Thus, the ECtHR assures that they could only have entered to evaluate the case if Spanish justice had acted or provided "arbitrary or manifestly irrational" arguments.

The ECtHR reiterates these arguments when annulling the part of the appeal that denounces the fact that Spanish justice has not referred the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). "The Convention does not guarantee, as such, the right for a national court to refer a matter to another national or international authority for a preliminary ruling," the document recalls.

In the same vein, the court assures that "the applicants did not request a referral nor did they provide any argument as to why a preliminary ruling" was necessary to the CJEU and, therefore, European justice also has no obligation to bring it to the Luxembourg court. In this way, the decision published this Thursday by the ECtHR maintains the judicial situation of linguistic immersion as it was and, therefore, the use of Catalan in schools in Catalonia remains under the purview of Spanish justice.

Òmnium's reaction

After learning of the ECtHR's decision, Òmnium, the organization coordinating the legal action of the complainant families, has issued a statement in which it has regretted the court's position and has called for "the articulation of a unified and forceful response from the country in the face of the future ruling of the Constitutional Court".

The president of the cultural organization, Xavier Antich, recalls that the current linguistic model in Catalonia stems from a law approved by Parliament with 85% of the support. However, Òmnium recalls that the ECtHR's verdict "does not impose any percentage, does not resolve the constitutionality of the Catalan law of 2022, and does not annul the margin of Catalan institutions to protect Catalan".