Linguistic coexistence works 'reasonably well' in Catalonia, says Zapatero
Spanish government clarifies that there is no controversy in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands regarding the use of Catalan and Spanish languages, a U.S. government report suggests
The Spanish government explained to the U.S. Department of State that linguistic coexistence in Spain works “reasonably well”. The Spanish President, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, said that he does not agree with a U.S. government report stating that, in regions such as Catalonia, “the controversy regarding linguistic policy continues, with complaints that the law denies citizens the right to be educated in their mother tongue.”
“I do not agree with that, because linguistic coexistence works reasonably well in the Spanish regions where there are two official languages,” Zapatero said in a press conference in Mallorca.
Zapatero added that there are “no fundamental problems” between the Catalans and the Spanish in the regions referred in the report.
“The vast majority of citizens are unaffected by problems relating to linguistic coexistence,” Zapatero argued. The Spanish president also stated that the government would send a full report in response to the points raised in the U.S. State Department’s 2009 report.