Dolors Montserrat, MEP and leader in Catalonia of the Spanish People's Party (PP), had already made a statement of intent when she was appointed the new chairperson of the European Parliament's Petitions Committee in 2019: "This will be the gateway for all those Spaniards who want to complain about things that they consider are not working well and to contribute positive initiatives that the European Parliament could take." And so it has been: Montserrat has brought the political war against the Catalan language to the EU and the conflict degenerated in the meeting to the point of seeing a far-right Vox MEP speak to the committee via an internet connection, surrounded by liquor bottles in a bar. The outrage of the Catalan pro-independence parties Junts and ERC was clear and ERC member of the house, Diana Riba, has written a letter to Montserrat demanding that she apply the rules that she, as chair, is obliged to execute. "I request the explicit rectification of Mrs Estarás Ferragut of the PP." And that the vote of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (which includes Vox) should not counted as favourable in the decision to keep the petition open, as the voting intention of its representative, Hermann Tertsch, could not be clearly understood by all members of the Committee, even by colleagues in his own group."
Above, Vox MEP Hermann Tertsch's speech to the European Parliament committee, recorded in a restaurant.
"Therefore, the total votes related to the decision on this petition should be counted accordingly," wrote Riba. She added: "I call for the addresses that are made in the Committee sessions to be made in settings that are of the utmost respect for the institution and the function of a Member of the European Parliament." Already in her previous speech, Riba had, along with Toni Comín (Junts), argued against what they consider to be a persecution of the Catalan language which has been transferred, now, to Europe: "They want to create a problem where none exists. They think they can win some extra votes at the expense of our language. In essence, it is a Spanish nationalist crusade seeking to standardize the Spanish state based on its fear of diversity," said the MEP, who is part of the Greens group.
The European response
The European Commission has already stated that, as EU law is not being violated, the situation of Catalan education remains an internal matter. However, under Montserrat's leadership as chair, the issue of Catalonia's language immersion system has been discussed three times in the Petitions Committee - a remarkable statistic given that less than 10% of petitions presented get a hearing. Riba notes "political use by Spanish nationalism of this committee that ends up being blatant." Yet Dolors Montserrat has ruled, as chairperson, to maintain open the request lodged by the PP and Vox, despite the European Commission's warning that it will not act on the matter because it has no competency. Thus, there is nowhere for the complaint to go, except to generate Spanish news stories and feed the voters of the Spanish right.
Far from applying the measures that Riba has asked for in her letter, Montserrat also interrupted the speeches, by the ERC and Junts MEPs, made partially in Catalan to make a point: "The political representatives of 10 million speakers are not able tp express themselves in their own language, the fourteenth most spoken in the EU." Riba recalled to the PP chairperson.
Ponsatí also complains
In parallel, another Junts MEP, Clara Ponsatí, has laid a complaint about Vox MEP Hermann Tertsch with the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, for the "shameful" intervention that the far-right representative made from a restaurant, and with a background of shelves of liquor bottles. Ponsatí asked Metsola to take action over the lack of decorum: "It's shameful." Tertsch spoke from a restaurant in a debate on the Catalan language in the European Parliament. The far-right Vox party MEP spoke out against the Catalan government, labelling it as "social-communist" in his address in the bar. "There are already enough separatist politicians who mutilate our children's language," he said over the noise of diners and drinkers. Tertsch announced that he has called for an "urgent mission" to Barcelona and Canet de Mar to ascertain in person the "breaches" of the court ruling for 25% of classes to be taught in Spanish. His address was completely surreal, to the point that some diners at the same restaurant as Tertsch told him: "Go somewhere else!"