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1239 Meeting, 4 November 2015 10 Legal Questions 1 CM(2015)147 Ministers’ Deputies CM Documents CM(2015)147 22 September 20151 1239 Meeting, 4 November 2015 10 Legal questions 10.2 European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages – b. Fourth report of the Committee of Experts in respect of Spain Item to be prepared by the GR-J at its meeting on 13 October 2015 In accordance with Article 16, paragraph 3 of the Charter, the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages submits its fourth report on the application of the Charter in Spain to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The report contains proposals for recommendations to be addressed by the Committee of Ministers to Spain. The Spanish government has been given the opportunity to comment on the content, in accordance with Article 16, paragraph 3 of the Charter. 1 This document has been classified restricted at the date of issue. In accordance with the Deputies’ decision (CM/Del/Dec(2001)765/10.4), it will be declassified after examination by the Committee of Ministers. CM(2015)147 2 The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages provides for a control mechanism to evaluate how the Charter is applied in State Parties with a view to, where necessary, making recommendations for improving their legislation, policy and practices. The central element of this procedure is the Committee of Experts, set up under Article 17 of the Charter. Its principal purpose is to report to the Committee of Ministers on its evaluation of compliance by a Party with its undertakings, to examine the real situation of regional or minority languages in the State and, where appropriate, to encourage the Party to gradually reach a higher level of commitment. To facilitate this task, the Committee of Ministers adopted, in accordance with Article 15, paragraph 1, an outline for periodical reports that a Party is required to submit to the Secretary General. This outline requires the State to give an account of the concrete application of the Charter, the general policy for the languages protected under Part II and, in more precise terms, all measures that have been taken in application of the provisions chosen for each language protected under Part III of the Charter. The Committee of Experts’ first task is therefore to examine the information contained in the periodical report for all the relevant regional or minority languages on the territory of the State concerned. The periodical report shall be made public by the State in accordance with Article 15, paragraph 2. The Committee of Experts’ role is to evaluate the existing legal acts, regulations and real practice applied in each State for its regional or minority languages. It has established its working methods accordingly. The Committee of Experts gathers information from the respective authorities and from independent sources within the State, in order to obtain a fair and just overview of the real language situation. After a preliminary examination of a periodical report, the Committee of Experts submits, if necessary, a number of questions to each Party to obtain supplementary information from the authorities on matters it considers insufficiently developed in the report itself. This written procedure is usually followed up by an on-the-spot visit by a delegation of the Committee of Experts to the State in question. During this visit the delegation meets bodies and associations whose work is closely related to the use of the relevant languages, and consults the authorities on matters that have been brought to its attention. This information-gathering process is designed to enable the Committee of Experts to evaluate more effectively the application of the Charter in the State concerned. Having concluded this process, the Committee of Experts adopts its own report. Once adopted by the Committee of Experts, this evaluation report is submitted to the authorities of the respective State Party for possible comments within a given deadline. Subsequently, the evaluation report is submitted to the Committee of Ministers, together with suggestions for recommendations that, once adopted by the latter, will be addressed to the State Party. The full report also contains the comments which the authorities of the State Party may have made. 3 CM(2015)147 CONTENTS Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 4 Chapter 1 Background information and general issues ................................................................................. 5 1.1. Ratification of the Charter by Spain ....................................................................................... 5 1.2. Presentation of the regional or minority language situation in Spain: update ........................ 6 1.3. Particular issues arising in the evaluation of the application of the Charter in Spain related to central authorities ................................................................................................................ 11 Chapter 2 Conclusions of the Committee of Experts on how the State authorities have reacted to the recommendations of the Committee of Ministers (RecChL(2008)5) ........................................................... 12 Chapter 3 The Committee of Experts' evaluation in respect of Part II and Part III of the Charter ............... 14 3.1. Evaluation in respect of Part II of the Charter ...................................................................... 14 3.2. Evaluation in respect of Part III of the Charter ..................................................................... 24 3.2.1 Catalan in Catalonia .................................................................................................... 25 3.2.2 Basque in Navarre ...................................................................................................... 33 3.2.3 Basque in the Basque Country ................................................................................... 46 3.2.4 Catalan in the Balearic Islands .................................................................................... 54 3.2.5 Valencian in Valencia ................................................................................................ 64 3.2.6 Galician in Galicia ........................................................................................................ 75 3.2.7 Aranese in Catalonia ................................................................................................... 88 Chapter 4 Findings and proposals for recommendations .......................................................................... 102 4.1. Findings of the Committee of Experts in the fourth monitoring round ............................... 102 4.2. Proposals for recommendations on the basis of the results of the fourth monitoring round ................................................................................................................................. 105 Appendix I: Instrument of ratification ......................................................................................................... 106 Appendix II: Comments by the Spanish authorities ................................................................................... 107 CM(2015)147 4 Executive Summary 1. Spain ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in April 2001. The Charter entered into force in Spain in August 2001. It grants special protection under its Part III to the co-official languages in the Autonomous Communities: Catalan in the Balearic Islands, Basque in the Basque Country, Aranese and Catalan in Catalonia, Galician in Galicia, Basque in Navarre, and Valencian in Valencia. 2. Furthermore, the following languages are granted more general protection under Part II of the Charter: Galician in Castile and Leon Aragonese in Aragon, Asturian and Galician-Asturian in Asturias, and Leonese in Castile and Leon. There are other languages which are not yet officially recognised, but which have a traditional presence in Spain. Caló is protected as a non-territorial language. 3. The Spanish authorities have chosen a very high level of protection for Part III languages. Throughout the monitoring cycle, the implementation has improved considerably. The undertakings which fall under the responsibility of the Autonomous Communities are by and large fulfilled. 4. In this fourth monitoring round, however, some significant problems as identified in the previous monitoring rounds still seem to exist. The legislation on the right to have proceedings before judicial and state administration bodies conducted in the relevant language has not been changed, despite the recommendations made by the Committee of Ministers. The Organic Law of Judicial Power is one of the most prominent obstacles to the fulfilment of the implementation of Art. 9 of the Charter. 5. A recurring problem is the lack of staff who can use the relevant languages in some areas of the state administration as well as in public services, particularly in health care. This hampers the use of minority languages in those areas. The Committee of Experts therefore considers a coherent and systematic policy approach to services to be provided of great importance. 6. The Organic Law 8/2013 providing for the strengthening of the teaching of Castilian all over Spain is not welcomed by speakers of some minority languages as they fear that the strengthening of Castilian will be at the expense of regional and minority languages.
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