Neither in classrooms nor in playgrounds. Neither on social media nor watching audiovisual content. The use of Catalan among last year students of compulsory education has fallen sharply in social environments. What was a widespread feeling has now been proven with two pieces of data: in 2013, 57% of young people expressed themselves mainly in Catalan on social media; in 2021, the percentage has fallen by almost half in 2021, and only 35% of students use it regularly. And as for audiovisual content – the heart of the recent spat between ERC and PSOE – 22% of students watch films, series or videos in Catalan (always or as much as in Spanish), when eight years ago twice as many did (46.3%).

Catalan is in a frankly difficult situation. This is demonstrated by the main indicators, and it is easily detectable if one has the slightest sensitivity. There are many factors that influence this constant weakening of the language, but not the least of these is the limited presence of Catalan on the big streaming platforms such as Netflix or HBO. That is why it was so important to ensure a minimum presence of Catalan on these platforms through the audiovisual law, and that is why ERC's agreement with the Spanish government to set a minimum of 6% for co-official languages was perfectly reasonable and also gave some oxygen to the Catalan film industry.

The Spanish government has poured cold water on the protection of Catalan on platforms that offer online content. The Council of Ministers has approved the audiovisual bill this Tuesday, but sources from the Ministry of Economy have clarified that the 6% quota for co-official languages the executive agreed with ERC can only be applied to platforms based in Spain. Thus, for example, neither Netflix nor HBO would be obliged to reserve 6% of their catalogue for productions in Basque, Catalan and Galician.

The fact that ERC has not presented any amendments to the state budget in its entirety will allow them to be processed. It is a first step towards an understanding with the PSOE on a key issue: guaranteeing a quota for the presence of Catalan on digital platforms for audiovisual content. Republicans and socialists have agreed to jointly approve the new audiovisual law and protect the co-official languages, although for now no percentage has been specified.