REPORT ON THE APPLICATION BY THE SPANISH STATE OF THE EUROPEAN CHARTER ON REGIONAL AND MINORITY LANGUAGES
WITH RESPECT TO THE
CATALAN LANGUAGE
October 2003
Co-ordinated by Dr. Santiago Castellà i Surribas,
Lecturer in Public International Law
at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili
as commissioned by the Committee of Experts of the
Observatori de la Language Catalana
Ist REPORT
THE APPLICATION BY THE SPANISH STATE OF THE EUROPEAN CHARTER ON
REGIONAL AND MINORITY LANGUAGES
WITH RESPECT TO THE CATALAN LANGUAGE
CONTENTS
Presentation
1.1. The Observatori de la Llengua Catalana 4
1.2. The Obligations assumed by the Spanish State 6
1.3. The Report by the Spanish State 13
1.4. The Report on the application by the Spanish State of the European Charter on Regional or Minority Languages with respect to the Catalan language 19
Declarations presented in accordance with Article 16.2 with regard to Part II (Objectives and Principles) of the European Charter 21
2.1. Declaration with regard to the Non-compliance with Article 7.1.a), c) and d): The lack of action on recognition, promotion and encouraging the Catalan language 21
2.2. Declaration with regard to the Non-compliance with Article 7.1.b) and e):
The administrative divisions of the Spanish State as an obstacle to the promotion of the Catalan language 29
2.3. Declaration with regard to the Non-compliance with Article 7.2.
The absence of juridical effects of the coming into force of the Charter in the Spanish State 33
2.4. Declaration with regard to the Non-compliance with Article 7.3:
The lack of promotion of mutual comprehension amongst all the language groups of the State 36
Alerts to the Committee of Experts, in accordance with Article 16.2 , with respect to Part III (Measures) of the European Charter
3.1 With respect to Article 8: Education 38
a) Pre-school, primary, secondary, and technical-vocational education 38
b) University education 46
c) Teaching of history and culture 48
d) Training and linguistic capacity of teachers 50
e) Monitoring and control 51
f) Teaching of the language outside its territorial area 52
3.2. With respect to Article 9: Judicial Authorities 54
a) Judicial Proceedings in Catalan 54
b) Validity of legal documents in Catalan 60
c) Access to legal texts in Catalan 62
3.3. With respect to Article 10: Public Authorities and Services 64
a) Use of Catalan by the General Administration of the State 66
b) Forms and administrative texts in Catalan 67
c) Linguistic knowledge and capacity of officials 69
d) Place names and Family names 73
e) Use of Catalan in public services 76
f) Requests for translations 77
3.4. With respect to Article 11: Media 78
3.5. With respect to Article 12: Cultural Activities and Facilities 83
3.6. With respect to Article 13: Economic and Social Life 86
3.7. With respect to Article 14: Transfrontier exchanges 90
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1. PRESENTATION
1.1. OBSERVATORI DE LA LLENGUA CATALANA
This REPORT ON THE APPLICATION BY THE SPANISH STATE OF THE EUROPEAN CHARTER ON REGIONAL AND MINORITY LANGUAGES WITH RESPECT TO THE CATALAN LANGUAGE is the result of the work of a group of organisations and associations with a specific interest in questions related to the promotion and defence of the Catalan language.
Various sectors of Catalan society have voiced their fears for the future of the language and their conviction of the need for an instrument to monitor the situation, evaluate developments and make such proposals as might be considered opportune. An instrument that, under the title OBSERVATORI DE LA LLENGUA CATALANA, works on the basis of the widest possible consensus across the civil society while at the same time offering a highly rigorous vision and analysis. This idea has brought together a group of organisations from throughout the Catalan-speaking territories: Acció Cultural del País Valencià, CIEMEN, Centre UNESCO de Catalunya, Comitè de Seguiment de la Declaration Universal de Drets Lingüístics, Casal Jaume I de Perpignan, Fundació Congrés de Cultura Catalana, Institut Linguapax, Obra Cultural Balear, Òmnium Cultural, and Plataforma per la Llengua, who formally constituted the Observatori on 14 May 2003, with a public presentation the same day at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans, an institution that also supports the Observatori.
The objectives established for the OBSERVATORI DE LA LLENGUA CATALANA include, amongst others, that of “Setting up an authorised voice that with rigorous academic criteria can assume the role of being a technical reference point in terms of the defence of the Catalan language, within the framework of national, State and international legislation, in order to orient and give legal arguments to those institutions and entities that work for the Catalan language” and that of “evaluating the situation and the evolution of the social usage of the Catalan language in all its ambits; drawing up and distributing widely an Annual Report on the situation of the Catalan language, both in terms of its social usage and of compliance with existing legislation (national, State, international)”. To these has been added the specific objective of “monitoring the application of the European Charter on Regional or Minority Languages, and presenting the corresponding Reports before the Committee of Experts and the Council of Europe”.
In fulfilment of this latter objective, the Board of Member Organisations of the Observatori de la Llengua decided to draw up this REPORT. Dr. Santiago Castellà Suribas was commissioned to co-ordinate and draft the text, with the collaboration of the members of the Committee of Experts of the Observatori, with the observations and amendments of this latter body being incorporated into the final draft. This REPORT is presented on behalf of the OBSERVATORI DE LA LLENGUA by its member bodies, which are listed at the end of the document. All of these organisations, as required in Article 16.2 of Part IV of the European Charter on Regional and Minority Languages (henceforth referred to as the “European Charter”), are “bodies or associations legally established in a Party”, being inscribed in the appropriate official registers within the Spanish State.
THE OBSERVATORI DE LA LLENGUA CATALANA, in so far as it is the driving force behind this REPORT, assumes in full the authorship of the same, together with its presentation before the COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS OF THE EUROPEAN CHARTER, remaining at the latter’s disposal for the clarification or further explanation of any points arising out of this REPORT, for the supplying of any additional documentary evidence as might be requested, and the participation in any relevant meetings or sessions in order to contribute to the work of the COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS OF THE EUROPEAN CHARTER in drawing up the Report on the compliance of the Spanish State of the European Charter which the Committee will present to the COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS of the Council of Europe, together with any recommendations that the COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS OF THE EUROPEAN CHARTER might consider it opportune to propose that the COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS present to the Spanish State in its capacity as a Party to the European Charter.
1.2. THE OBLIGATIONS ASSUMED BY THE SPANISH STATE
On 4 October 1988, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a draft text of the project for a European Charter on Regional or Minority Languages, a project that arose out of an initiative of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe. The resolution proposed that the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe should adopt this text conferring on it the legal status of a Convention or Treaty of the Council of Europe. Finally, on 22 June 1992, the Committee of Ministers rejected this text, charging instead the ad hoc Committee of Experts on Regional or Minority Languages (CALH) with the task of drafting a definitive text for a European Charter on Regional or Minority Languages. Having overcome numerous obstacles, and with the abstentions of some member states of the Council, such as Turkey, Greece, France, the United Kingdom, or Cyprus, on 5 November 1992 the Council of Ministers adopted the Charter, which remained open for signing by the member states of the Council of Europe. On 1 March 1998, having received the five ratifications required by Article 19 of the European Charter, it became law, being open to the signature by states that were not members of the Council of Europe but had been invited to join.
As of 31 June 2003, 16 States which are members of the European Charter had signed, while 12 further States had not yet ratified the Charter.
The Charter is structured in 23 Articles, divided into five sections: the definition of what is understood to be a regional or minority language; the objectives and principles to be pursued by states in this area; the measures to favour the use of these languages in public life; a control mechanism based on the establishment of a Committee of Independent Experts to analyse the Reports submitted by the States; and the final depositions.
We are particularly interested in highlighting the establishing of a control mechanism, that is, the creation of a Committee of Independent Experts, regulated by Article 17 of the European Charter, which will analyse the periodic Reports by the States – in accordance with the obligation to present these Reports set out in Article 15 of the European Charter. The Committee is also empowered to take into account the submissions and other information presented by bodies or associations that are legally established in a State that is party to the Charter. Article 16 of the European Charter specifically stipulates that such organisations should bring to the attention of the Committee of Experts matters concerning questions referred to in the provisions of Part III of the European Charter, or the possibility of making “declarations” regarding the policies pursued by a State in line with the Objectives and Principles set out in Part II of the European Charter.
The Spanish State was one of the first signatories of the European Charter, on 5 November 1992, the same day the Charter was proclaimed and the period was opened for signing and subsequent ratification, acceptance or approval by the member States of the Council of Europe. This willingness to sign was consistent with there having been an active participation by Spanish parliamentarians throughout the process of concluding the European Charter at the headquarters of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. However, a number of political vicissitudes and shifts in the balance of political forces in both the Spanish Congress and Senate delayed until 2 February 2001, almost 10 years later, the signing of the Spanish State’s instrument of ratification of the European Charter, which was finally deposited with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on 9 April 2001, an instrument which came into full international force as far as Spain was concerned on 1 August 2001, in line with the provisions of Article 19.2 of the European Charter (“In respect of any member State which subsequently expresses its consent to be bound by it, the Charter shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the expiry of a period of three months after the date of the deposit of the instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval”).
The European Charter, having the juridical character of an international treaty, acquired, in accordance with the appropriate provisions of the Spanish legal system, full internal force as of its publication in the Boletín Official del Estado (the Official Bulletin of the State), Nº 222, of 15 September 2001.
The special characteristics of the contents of the European Charter, and the manifesting of a State’s consent to bind itself to the provisions in the Charter, must necessarily be accompanied by a declaration in relation to Article 2.2 of the European Charter (In respect of each language specified at the time of ratification, acceptance or approval, in accordance with Article 3, each Party undertakes to apply a minimum of thirty-five paragraphs or sub-paragraphs chosen from among the provisions of Part III of this Charter, including at least three chosen from each of Articles 8 and 12 and one from each of Articles 9, 10, 11 and 13”) and also in relation to Article 3.1 of the same Charter (“Each contracting State shall specify in its instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval each regional or minority language, or official language which is less widely used in the whole or in part of its territory, to which the paragraphs chosen in accordance with Article 2, paragraph 2, shall apply”).
The declaration formulated by the party State at the moment of depositing its instrument of ratification, should first make reference to the undertakings entered into under Part III of the European Charter, since these are drafted in such a way as to be alternatives, using the disjunctive conjunction ‘or’, though this also offers the possibility of adding various undertakings through the copulative conjunction ‘and’, used in conjunction with the previous in the form ‘and/or’; secondly, the instrument of ratification should also make reference to the languages which are to be the object of protection. Part II of the European Charter, which refers to “objectives and principles” is characterised by the principle of integrity, it not being possible to exclude or prioritise any of the objectives or principles contained therein. Article 21.1 expressly prohibits the possibility of opting out of any of the objectives and principles in Article 7.1, whether the intention be to exclude or to interpret. The possibility of opting out with regard to the principles and objectives contained in sub-paragraphs 2 to 5 of Article 7, allowed in accordance with Article 21.1, should in all cases conform to the norms laid down in general international law, which fixed by the Convention of Vienna of 1969 on Treaty Law and reaffirmed by international jurisprudence and in the progressive codifying work undertaken by the International Law Commission of the United Nations, exclude the possibility of opt-outs which run counter to the aims and objectives of treaties.