Finally, we have a National Language Pact. We must congratulate the president of the Generalitat and his Minister of Language Policy for achieving their goal, and we must downplay the tantrum of Junts, which failed to distinguish the strategic value of the Plan from its tactical interests. In reality, it's nothing new that a party that defends the protection of Catalan would decide not to support an initiative to protect Catalan; it's enough to remember that in 1997, Esquerra voted against the language policy law.

It's the world upside down. Under Pere Aragonès's presidency, we talked about Hard Rock, Quart Cinturó, and El Prat Airport. The ERC program was fading away while the PSC, with its decisive votes, boasted of setting the political agenda. And now that Salvador Illa is president, when Foment del Treball was salivating over a government business friendly that would put an end to "tax hell" and accelerate the airport, it turns out that the central points of the legislature, thanks to the influence of ERC and Comuns, have to do with housing, tourism control, amnesty (agreed in Madrid by Junts) and the situation of the Catalan language. The only core objective that the PSC has achieved is to lull the conflict, and in the process Catalan politics as a whole, which weakens the independence bloc and, according to the calculations of the spin doctors, will strengthen the PSC's hegemony in the years to come. It seems that Salvador Illa has abandoned proactive management in favor of the higher objective of securing a landslide victory in the next election, whenever it may be. The Socialists have plenty of patience.

This Tuesday, the National Language Pact was signed, an agreement that aims to promote the social use of Catalan and reverse a worrying trend: the continued decline our language has suffered since the beginning of the 21st century. This pact comes after years in which the language had ceased to be a political priority despite evidence of decline. It was under the government of President Pere Aragonès that the foundations for this pact, now signed, were laid, with the aim of placing Catalan once again at the center of public debate and national policies.

The signing of the National Language Pact, endowed with a very considerable sum of 255 million euros for this year, has put the situation of Catalan at the center of attention.

The National Pact for Language was approved this Tuesday After four years on the road, with a budget of 255 million for this year but without the expected political consensus. The Minister of Language Policy, Francesc Xavier Vila, has led it from the beginning, first from the Esquerra government and now from the PSC government.

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.

In a symbolic setting such as the headquarters of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans, President Salvador Illa presided this Tuesday at noon over the signing of the long-awaited National Pact for Language, the roadmap that should guide the country's language policy until 2030. The objective is to promote the knowledge and social use of Catalan, which is in hours Only 32.6% of citizens speak it regularlyt, 14 points lower than 20 years ago. The Pact provides for a budget of 255 million euros dedicated to language policy by 2025, the highest amount ever allocated to language, and a minimum of 200 million euros annually. The entire Government attended the event, which was attended by a broad representation of society and symbolic figures such as former President Jordi Pujol, but with notable absences, especially those of Junts and the CUP.

Today The National Pact for Language is signed, with the PSC, Izquierda, Comunes, the Platform for Language, Òmnium, Fomento, Pimec, CCOO and UGT, among others.

This Tuesday, the National Language Pact will be signed. Policies with broad political and social consensus in favor of Catalan are welcome, with millions of euros behind them to make them a reality. Because, for example, there cannot be thousands of newly arrived residents in Catalonia interested in learning Catalan who can't find a place nearby or a suitable time slot.

Calls for individual and active responsibility among speakers ("I'll keep Catalan") are all very well, but they are still appeals to voluntarism. Prior to the commitment of individual citizens, the deep commitment of institutions to the language is essential. In this sense, that the National Pact for Language is finally activated The fact that the previous legislature didn't come to fruition is good news: better late than never, this pact is better than no pact at all. It's about reinvigorating the Catalan language and making it central to their country and society. Their absence is obviously negative, but it also says nothing about the policies and actions undertaken within the Pact. Working together. It's pointless, now, to be distracted by recriminations.

It is impossible not to start today by congratulating Barça, who won the women's league of football and is on the way to the treble, and for the 4 to 3 for the boys in Madrid, after a hectic first half, which went from the usual 0-2 to 4-2 at halftime. In short, Barça can win La Liga the day after tomorrow, on Wednesday, if Madrid doesn't beat Mallorca, on Thursday if the Catalans beat Espanyol in Cornellà, or on Sunday if Villarreal win in Montjuïc. Yesterday, Barça won after enduring such biased refereeing on the pitch and in the VAR that it justifies the tweet we're reproducing:

The National Language Pact finally has a date. It will be presented at noon on Tuesday at the Institut d'Estudis Catalans, an emblematic venue. It will be signed by the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), ERC (Republican Workers' Party), and Comuns (Comuns), along with the presence of the language organizations, employers' associations, and unions that have participated in the process. According to 3Cat, it will be endowed with 255 million euros.

Let me start at the end, so that rhetoric does not dilute the message: we urgently need a great social pact for the revitalization of the Catalan language. The unborn National Pact for Language proposed in the previous legislature responded to an institutional call to work, hand in hand with civil society, to improve the comfort of Catalan in its historical ecosystem. The expert document – which I had the honor of coordinating with Isidor Marí – already put on the table the weaknesses of a language that has not succeeded in the difficult path to normality, but it also emphasized the strengths, a vector that we must not ignore if we want to achieve a city adhesion.

For some time now, different voices have been calling for a new National Pact for Language. The data show that we are facing a new linguistic emergency, especially in the classrooms, where Catalan is in danger of becoming a mere ornament. Today, Catalan Culture minister Natàlia Garriga Ibáñez and Secretary of Linguistic Policy Francesc Xavier Vila presented the bases of a pact that, according to the Catalan Culture Department, aims to reach a social and political consensus on Catalan and "reach a consensus on the policies necessary to ensure the present and future of the language, an instrument of social cohesion".