Paneque responds to Feijóo: Catalan is "sacred and untouchable"

The spokesperson for the Government, Sílvia Paneque, responds to the leader of the PP and asserts that the model of linguistic immersion is decided by the Generalitat. This comes a day after Alberto Núñez Feijóo's proposal to guarantee 50% of teaching hours in Spanish.

The spokesperson for the Government, Sílvia Paneque, replied on Tuesday to Alberto Núñez Feijóo, as reported by moncloa.com, following the meeting of the Consell Executiu. She did so twenty-four hours after the PP leader presented his Contract with Spain in Madrid, featuring a star measure: 50% of teaching hours in Spanish in Catalan schools if his party comes to power.

The Minister of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition made it clear that the Catalan school model is directed from the Govern and that linguistic immersion is not negotiated at a rally in Madrid. For Paneque, the PP "speaks from ignorance" and should inform itself before commenting on Catalonia, its language, and its students.

The Catalan school model is directed from the Govern and we are fully committed to linguistic immersion.

The spokesperson went beyond the educational field and described Catalan as a binding element of society, which she considered an untouchable value due to its integrative role. She also assured that the current model, with Catalan as the vehicular language, is not at risk and reminded that immersion is a commitment shared by all Catalan governments.

The message follows the line set on Monday by the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, who concluded the matter with a "Catalan is not to be touched." In the Parliament, ERC has also criticized the Contract with Spain, so the defence of immersion concentrates the support of a good part of the Catalan chamber.

According to the Govern, the PP's proposal affects a transferred competence. Changing schedules, the curriculum, or the vehicular language would require, in their view, reforming the Statute or emptying the Catalan competence of content, so the announcement functions more as a campaign gesture than as an applicable measure.

Paneque added another aspect: she challenged Feijóo to work to convince his European partners to stop blocking the official status of Catalan, Galician, and Basque in the European Union. The recognition of the three languages remains stalled in the Council of the European Union, where unanimity is required.

Work to convince your parliamentary partners to stop blocking the official status of our languages in Brussels.

The spokesperson also expressed a wish that after the 29-N elections, a progressive Government would be re-established, because, she said, it is a necessary issue for Catalonia and for Spain. A change in La Moncloa, on the other hand, would return the matter to the drawer. For families in the community, for now, the school model does not change and the use of Catalan as the vehicular language in classrooms remains in effect.