C's targets Catalan in pact
Ciutadans includes changes to education in Catalan and forcing compliance with court rulings in Spanish in proposed investiture pact with PP
After not even daring to consider it when forging the so-called “Agreement for a reformist and progressive government” with Pedro Sánchez' PSOE in February, which ended in a failed investiture, Ciutadans is now demanding Mariano Rajoy include the modification of the immersion model of education in Catalan in order that “trilingualism” replace immersion on the list of requirements for it to give its yes to Rajoy's investiture as PM.
In the fourth meeting between the parties' negotiating teams in Congress, Deputy Secretary General of C's, José Manuel Villegas, informed the PP that the State is being too permissive by not imposing court decisions in Spanish in Catalonia and that the model of education cannot continue as it is: “There are decisions that the Catalan government has been ignoring for years and there are both legal and State inspection paths that are not being applied.”
At a point where the PP and C's are stuck over defining what constitutes corruption, among other pressing issues, the introduction of the Catalan syllabus has provided Albert Rivera's party with a vindication of its conception in 2006 as a reaction to the educational model endorsed by the constitutional court in 1994. “It's not that Catalonia has its own specific block [in the negotiations with the PP], but it is clear that many of the issues being negotiated affect Catalonia” Villegas said during a break in Congress yesterday to explain why the fight against immersion in Catalan is being resurrected now. “And if we're in a country where we're told that it is impossible to comply with judicial decisions, then we've got it wrong,” he added.