The Government confirms that a reform of the Congress Regulation for the use of Catalan in debates is being negotiated

Bolaños expects an agreement "soon", although he remembers that reforming the regulation "concerns all groups"

MADRID, 31 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, confirmed this Thursday that the PSOE is working on a reform of the Congress Regulations to validate the use of Catalan and other co-official languages ​​in parliamentary debates in plenary session and committee, a commitment made with ERC and Junts in exchange for the independentistas supporting the socialist Francina Armengol to preside over the Chamber and gain the majority in the Table.

At his inauguration, Armengol promised to allow the use of Catalan, Basque and Galician in the Plenary Sessions of Congress from day one, but days later he cooled down that measure, specifying that some needed to close some fringes.

The Regulations of Congress do not determine that one must speak in Spanish nor does it prevent speaking in the languages ​​of the autonomous community, but some lawyers had already warned that generalizing the use of co-official languages ​​could cause deficiencies in parliamentary procedure and generate a risk of defenselessness. in the other Members who do not know those languages.

This was announced on Radio Nacional by the lawyer Manuel Fernández-Fontecha, who maintains that this measure needs some regulation because it affects the rights of deputies who are unaware of them, and may cause them defenselessness, because they need to understand what is being said to guarantee the necessary parliamentary debate.

"There is a facet that is being ignored: obviously there is a right to use the co-official language, but there is also a right for the remaining deputy to understand what is being said," he stressed.

In other words, if this right to understanding is not guaranteed "a procedural defect could be incurred in that there would not be a proper debate, because there is a party that would not understand the other". "It is necessary to guarantee that the use of languages ​​not known by other deputies does not make them defenseless", summarized the lawyer.

This regulation could be embodied in a resolution of the Presidency of the Chamber, which is the fastest way, or in a reform of the Regulations of Congress, which requires more procedures and would require a vote in plenary.

As El Periódico has advanced, the PSOE and ERC have already reached an agreement in principle to reform article 70.2 to make it clear that "the speaker may deliver his speech in any of the languages ​​that are official in any Autonomous Community in accordance with the Constitution and the corresponding Statute of Autonomy".

When asked about these negotiations, Bolaños said at the National Library headquarters that "they are talking with all the parliamentary groups", not only with the ERC, because "the reform of the Regulations so that the co-official languages ​​can be spoken in the Congress is a reform that concerns all parliamentary groups".

In this sense, he has confirmed that drafts are already being crossed and he hopes that "soon, as long as it takes to reach an agreement with the parliamentary groups", the use of the co-official languages ​​can be guaranteed. "Because Castilian is as Spanish as Catalan, like Galician, like Basque", she remarked.

Until the last legislature, the PSOE opposed the use of the co-official languages ​​in Congress, alleging that Spanish is the only official language in the entire State and referred its use to the Senate. In fact, he voted against taking into consideration an initiative raised by his partners from Unidas Podemos.

The PP has also been rejecting all the initiatives raised in Congress for the use of Catalan, Basque and Galician, like Vox, which has already announced that this legislature will also oppose any reform in this regard.