The Minister for Foreign Action and European Union, Meritxell Serret i Aleu, explained today in the Parliament of Catalonia that she has sent a letter to the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, to convey the Catalan Government’s concern about the “partisan” use made by the European Parliament Committee on Petitions regarding language immersion, and about the lack of impartiality of the president of this Committee, Dolors Montserrat. Something that, according to Serret, damages the reputation of European institutions in the eyes of citizens.

In her response to an interpellation this Wednesday in the Parliament of Catalonia, the Minister went further, denouncing that the mission of the Committee on Petitions that visited certain Catalan schools in December lacked “both rigour and plurality” and represented a “waste of European resources”, since the European Union does not have the competence to adjudicate on this matter.

The Minister for Foreign Action also underscored the Catalan Government’s support for the linguistic immersion system in Catalan schools, which enjoys a broad social consensus in Catalonia and, furthermore, she stated, is a recognised tool for social cohesion. In this regard, she highlighted the efforts of the Catalan Government to promote and defend the linguistic model of Catalan schools worldwide, especially within European institutions, long before the controversial mission of the Committee on Petitions took place. Specifically, Minister Serret has been to Brussels on 10 occasions, where she has had the opportunity to meet with MEPs from the four main political groups in the European Parliament. “In these meetings we have noted a deep concern about the manipulation that is taking place in the Committee on Petitions”, she stressed.

Serret emphasised that the Government has shared a set of arguments with data regarding the linguistic immersion system, which has been distributed not only to Brussels but also to European capitals through the Catalan Government’s delegations abroad. “We are working consistently, rigorously, and discreetly; it’s fair to say that today, Europe’s capitals know that schooling and the Catalan language are not an issue in our country”, Serret asserted.

Finally, the Minister reaffirmed the commitment of the Catalan Government to the language immersion model, which she described as a “strategic line” of the Government, and urged the other parliamentary groups and civil society as a whole to join forces to create a common front to stop the “crusade against Catalan schools, schools that ensure equal opportunities”.