C's discover trilingualism

It appears that students don't need to learn English with such urgency in the rest of Spain

Sebastià Alzamora
2 min
Albert Rivera, líder de Ciutadans / ACN

With the aim of smoothing over their strenuous talks with the PP, the meandering negotiators from Ciudadanos (C’s) served up a Catalan ratatouille, a dish that Spain’s God-fearing constitutionalists are always in the mood for. And in the middle of the plate, temptingly shiny, was a proposal to scrap the language immersion system in Catalan schools and replace it with a trilingual education model (only in Catalonia and the other Spanish regions tainted by the Catalan language; it appears that students don't need to learn English with such urgency in the rest of Spain).

The C's brand of trilingualism follows the diet laid out by the unforgettable Minister Wert, enriched with vitamin supplements like the use of State inspectors to ensure that —in Catalan schools— the number of teaching hours in Spanish complies with whatever the first judge who comes along dictates. To Ciudadanos, black robes are the greatest authority in the field of education.

In short, a succulent portion of anti-Catalan xenophobia that the good people of C's hoped would be met with delight and gluttony by the PP representatives. But, alas, it was not to be and the seagull turned up its nose, much to the stupor and dismay of Juan Carlos Girauta, who in effect turned orange in response (1).

Perhaps this lack of appetite by the indicted party has something to do with the possibility that at Rajoy’s place, —unlike at Rivera’s— they are well aware that C's and the PP do not add up to an absolute majority in parliament, even if you stack up their MPs one on top of the other.

It may well be that they remember a chipping piece of furniture that they have occupying a seat in the Senate -- that unreformable chamber -- that goes by the name of José Ramón Bauzá. Not long ago, that item of furniture was the president of the Balearic Islands, where he led a dazzling and aggressive government action in favor of trilingualism, and against the use of the Catalan language, which —after an endless string of absurdities— ended up in an electoral disaster for the PP that still makes the island polling places tremble.

Well, for now we'll look forward to the moment when Girauta abandons the negotiating table amidst a grand fuss, as he used to do on talk shows. He looked hilarious.

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(1) N.T. Orange is the corporate color that identifies Ciudadanos. The logo of Spain’s Partido Popular features some sort of gull or other sea-faring bird.

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