Politicians argue over speaking the same language

THE May 25 local elections have brought the language issue back to the forefront in the Balearics.
The Balearics have both Spanish and Catalan as official languages, but Catalan is still considered to be in an unfavourable position requiring special treatment.

Four years ago, the ruling Partido Popular (PP), led by President Jaume Matas who is standing for re-election, while winning most votes, did not gain an absolute majority. As a consequence, all the other parties formed a coalition, which has ruled the islands up until today.
This regional government formed by socialists, greens, communists and nationalists has done a great deal for linguistic policy.
For example, along with the Catalan government, it has created the Institut Ramon Llull, which teaches Catalan language lessons abroad and has organised several Catalan language courses for immigrants. In addition, a new public radio station was created and there is a plan to launch a regional television channel. Of course, all of the programmes are or will be exclusively in Catalan. Because of the importance of linguistic policy most parties pay special attention to this matter in the campaign. However, the conservative PP, whose presidential candidate is Jaume Matas, a former minister of the Environment, has abandoned the previous consensus on linguistic policy and has started an aggressive attack against the ruling coalition. Matas has declared that “Catalan is a menace against the dialectal linguistic varieties spoken in the islands” and asserts that Catalan should no longer be a requirement to get a job in the public administration. According to him, “the linguistic policy of this government is a consequence of a Talibanic ideology”.
Of course, the rest of parties reject these criticisms and argue that the PP is only trying to attract the votes of the anti-Catalan social sector, especially immigrants from other Spanish territories. Mateu Morro, secretary general of the Partit Socialista de Mallorca-Entesa Nacionalista (PSM-EN), the Majorca nationalist party, says that “the linguistic and cultural patrimony is one of the pillars of our society and is a major sign of identity”. Talking to Eurolang, he defended “linguistic normalisation and the stimulation of cultural production” and hopes to achieve a “better legal framework to reach all fields of society, such as shops, restaurants, transport as well as public-sector activities.” Moreover, Mateu Morro defends “a consolidation of our co-operation with other Catalan administrations for obvious reasons” and describes how there is “a a new wave of teaching of Catalan in schools and universities” paying special attention to immigrant pupils. The PSM-EN, which in the current government runs the Culture Ministry, is a nationalist party and holds around 12 per cent of the vote. The Unió Mallorquina (UM), Majorca Unionist party led by Antonia Munar, holds similar views.
This nationalist and liberal party holds the Presidency of the Insular Council of Majorca and most analysts say that they will make substantial gains in this election.

Josep Lliteres, responsible for the electoral programme, told Eurolang that teaching in Catalan language in schools “is fundamental for us because this language is the islands' own”. According to him, “the educational model of the Illes Balears should work towards a scheme whereby all citizens are able to master Catalan and also make a special effort with newcomers.” The UM, as it may form part of the next regional government, supports the current institutional pro-Catalan policy.
Lliteres urges the creation of Catalan public television and to keep Catalan as the working language in the regional administration and local councils. Regarding the PP's criticism over the government's linguistic policy, Lliteres expresses concern, “this party has a very peculiar concept of bilingualism: in fact, it aims to create two separate monolingual communities, a Catalan one and a Spanish one”. He added that the islands have one natural language, which is Catalan, and that the local varieties are not in danger.
The other two parties that form the current government, the Partit Socialista de les Illes Balears (PSOE-PSIB), Balearic Socialist Party, and Esquerra Unida/Els Verds, the United Left/Green Party coalition, both have similar positions on the language. Only the Popular Party aims to change a linguistic policy which has been praised in many places.