Spanish MEP Izaskun Bilbao Barandica (ALDE) from the Basque Country has asked the European Commission to give its position on the measures recently adopted by the Navarre Regional Government in regard to the Basque language.
The MEP criticized the measures taken for making the situation of the language even worse and for going against the recommendations a report produced more than one year ago on compliance with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in the Autonomous Community of Navarre. The document stated that local public authorities were not meeting the Charter’s minimum requirements to ensure the safeguarding of the Basque language.
Mrs Bilbao noted that the measures consolidate a situation “where equal standing for the Autonomous Community’s two official languages is being hampered across the region,” adding that “the way in which students who choose Basque as their language of communication are being prevented at the same time from taking immersion courses in other European languages, such as English, speaks for itself.”
Mrs Bilbao asked the Commission whether these measures are in line with the EC’s multilingualism policy and whether its work programme includes a plan “to measure the effectiveness of Member States’ policies promoting minority languages.”
The Commission is likely to give its answer to the MEP before this summer.