The president of the Govern, Marga Prohens, assured this Tuesday during the plenary session of the Parliament that more than 500 health professionals have learned Catalan “voluntarily”, through the courses launched by the autonomous Executive. The head of the Government presented this figure as proof that its language policy “works without impositions”.
The statement comes in response to a question from the spokesman of MÉS per Mallorca, Lluís Apesteguia, who has reproached the lack of “far-reaching policies” in defense of Catalan. The eco-sovereignist deputy demanded a greater institutional involvement, accusing the Government of having promoted measures that “weaken” the use of their own language, such as the plan of free choice of language, the exemption of Catalan in health or the possible inclusion of Castilian as a vehicular language in education.
Prohens has defended that her linguistic strategy seeks to “bring closer” Catalan “in a friendly way” and not through what she considers “impositions” that, in her opinion, have generated rejection in previous stages. According to the president, the demand for Catalan as a requirement to work in public health acted as a “dissuasive” factor to fill positions, especially in areas that are difficult to cover.
“With our policy, more than 500 health workers have decided to learn it voluntarily. This shows that Catalan does not need to be a political weapon,” insisted Prohens, appealing to a climate of linguistic coexistence.
Apesteguia, for his part, regretted that the Government is “lowering” the protection of the Catalan language and called for the urgent reinforcement of linguistic standardization in all public spheres.
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