The new majority considered in Congress for the re-election of Pedro Sánchez as president of the government, together with the progressive, nationalist and independent parties, voted this Tuesday to start processing the proposal to reform the rules of the chamber itself. that in individual autonomous communities the official languages may be used in all areas of parliament. PSOE, Sumar, Junts, ERC, EH Bildu, PNV and BNG joined the Canary coalition with a total of 176 seats. [se han producido tres ausencias] And let’s consider the proposal, which will finally be approved at a fast pace, on Thursday.
The second ballot received 179 affirmative votes, which was expected for both votes. But only 347 out of 350 deputies took part in the first one.
The use of the Catalan, Basque and Galician languages, which had already been heard in the same plenary session, sparked outrage and protests from the right and far-right. The speaker of the PP in the Congress, Kuka Gamarra, even tried in a previous intervention to have President Francina Armengoli stop the agreement on the use of languages from this Tuesday.
And the socialist José Ramón Besteiro, Lugo’s deputy, was first responsible for starting its use. “It’s a double honor,” he said. “It’s a double honor,” the interpreter translated. These are the first words spoken in an official language other than Spanish by a member of Congress.
Galician’s first words in the Congress caused Vox to suffer. The far-right protested the use of Spanish in the seat of popular sovereignty and, after reprimanding the president, Francina Armengoli, left the chamber and threw simultaneous translation devices at the president’s empty chair. Pedro Sánchez of the government is on an official visit to the United Nations.
Some of the headphones PP MPs did not want to wear at all times as some speakers such as PNV’s Joseba Aguirrexea reprimanded from the rostrum.
Before Vox held the “show”, the parliamentary speaker of the PP, Kuka Gamara, asked to appear to request Armengoli’s intention to allow this Tuesday, in the debate, to consider the law that the official languages will already be used in certain areas. Armengol rejected Gamara’s request, which he had already submitted in a review letter to the Congress Council itself.
The revised text, registered by all parties that supported it except Younts, provides that MPs will be able to use Catalan, Basque and Galician normally in all areas of the lower house and with simultaneous translation. “Deputies shall have the right to use in all areas of parliamentary activity, including oral interventions and written submissions, any language that has official status in any autonomous community in accordance with the constitution and relevant provisions of autonomy.” “- it is stated in the reform proposal.
This Tuesday, in fact, as a way to set up this new budding majority agreement, MPs have already been able to intervene in their languages.
Quiet debate
The debate, which had a very calm tone throughout its development, began with the proposed groups defending the text. All the speakers proclaimed the “advance” that this event represents, but at the same time they spread messages against the right-wing opposition.
The first to speak in the official language was the socialist José Ramón Besteiro, who delivered part of his speech in Galician. “It’s a double honor.” “It is an honor that allows me to publish a translation of my language, which is a symbol of the country’s cultural wealth,” he said in his first speech, which he later ended by criticizing the PP leader. Alberto Nunez Feijo. “When the PP talks about common sense, our neighbors in A Coruña, Português or Buenos Aires don’t understand that you don’t speak Galician here today,” he scolded.
Summar’s speaker, Marta Lois, also used the Galician language to conclude almost all of her interventions from the platform. “What we are going to approve today is the common sense that has been demanded in this House for a century. It is historic because it sets the stage for recognizing that our country’s strength is built on diversity, on recognizing who we are. “What is already normal outside the parliament will be normalized,” he defended.
At the same time, Lois also criticized Feijo in his speech, not only for going against the rules, but also for trying to invest next week, which he called irresponsible. “Spain is not to blame for its internal problems. He doesn’t care if you are in charge, Mr. Feijo or Mr. Aznar. We gladly released Mr. Aznari 20 years ago, and you have very little left,” he told him.
After that, the independence forces of the Congress intervened, except for Junti, who, despite demanding that the agreement be voted in favor of the progressive majority in the House, distanced himself from the development of the text of the reform and chose to intervene. Later, in terms of fixing the position.
Esquerra Republicana spokesman Gabriel Ruffian celebrated the “historic” agreement and also criticized the right for opposing the reform. “Language is used not only to communicate, but also to convey what you want. Also to represent who you are. “Many of you are not worried about the fact that they speak other languages, but about the identity that you represent,” he criticizes.
“We appreciate that you support these languages, that you want to promote them, but not from the rich history of these languages, which forces us to put our language on the folk level, lacking a social, political and national entity like Basque. And its spokesmen “we need”, EH Bildu’s spokesman, Mertke Aizupura, in turn reprimanded the PSOE and Sumar, who reproaches the fact that citizens who speak Basque are “second class”, with “limited” rights. “This is what has to end,” he protested.
The spokesman for the Basque Nationalist Party, Joseba Aguirrexea, also criticized Feijo, whom he called “the new savior coming from Galicia”. “You are a Castilian centrist,” he said, pointing to the right-wing bench. “They cannot shake off the shadow of the empire. They don’t know how to live in diversity and because they take those who are not Spanish or do not speak Spanish as enemies. If something is not in Spanish, it is against Spanish and against Spain,” he said ironically.
“The security is that the person who is the president of the government of Galicia, who has the legal duty to protect our language, is against it gaining new spaces of use. It is disrespectful to him to deny the language of his people. And it is obscene that today here, who has worked as president of the Xunta de la Galicia for 13 years, is going to vote for Galician,” BNG spokesman Nestor Rego, who made his entire speech in Galician, also criticized.
Faced with Vox’s proposal, which later intervened in turn, the PP capitalized on the opposition to the norm at the discursive level. Basque MP Borja Semper, who also serves as the spokesperson for the party leadership, was responsible for defending Ara. It was he who assured this Monday that the use of official languages in the Congress was “stupid”, which earned him a lot of criticism, especially when he combined Basque and Spanish in his presentation.
Semper assured that “no European nation has developed a higher level of protection than Spain in terms of respecting and promoting its linguistic reality”.
Thursday, final approval
The final reform of the regulation will be approved on Thursday. Now the deputies, in the second point of voting this Tuesday, will vote if it is approved immediately and in one reading, that is, without going through the committees. From that point, Congress has 48 hours to submit amendments, and on Thursday the final text will be voted on, with all amendments submitted.
According to sources in the Congress Presidency, the total cost of the 450 headsets to be purchased is 7,600 euros, to which must be added the rental of transmitters and their maintenance. The estimated budget from now until the end of the year is about 45,000 euros. During this week, the Chamber hired twelve translators on an ad hoc basis.
At this week’s plenary session, the round of negotiations that began after the 23J elections to create a majority for the progressive table will be closed. The PSOE reached an agreement with the Junts and the ERC to approve this reform of the regulations in exchange for the independents giving their votes to Francina Armengol as president of the Congress Council. In recent weeks, the Socialists have agreed with the rest of the forces to speed up procedures and approve the reform before the inauguration of Alberto Nunez Feijoo, which is scheduled for next week.
Source: El Diario
