The resolution of the High Court of Justice of the Basque Country, signed by Luis Javier Murgoitio Estefanía, annulled last year’s judgment. According to the resolution adopted by ARGIA, “the public administration cannot demand this requirement from all those submitted, to the detriment of the right to public employment of those who do not demonstrate such a profile”. In short, citizens’ fundamental rights to access these places are “subdivided” by the Basque demand, according to the ruling.

At the expense of the decisions that have taken place in many cases, more than one citizen who does not know Euskera has gone to court requesting the withdrawal of the profile of Euskera as a public employee. The opposition to the Uliazpi Foundation to be caregivers also came to court, stating that the Basque demand is contrary to the Spanish Constitution and discriminatory. On the contrary, the court of San Sebastian responded that precisely the Spanish Constitution considers Euskera as a co-official language in the CAV and that, therefore, to guarantee the right of citizens to use it, it is legitimate to request Euskera from public employees.

The lawsuit involved workers and representatives of the LAB trade union as a defendant. After last year’s victory, the union stressed that the linguistic profile is essential to respect the linguistic rights of those cared for and those of their families, as in short, “only the administration that can work in Basque will guarantee the linguistic rights of all citizens”.

Possibility of appeal

In the light of this last resolution, the union has recalled the possibility of bringing an appeal to the Supreme Court within 30 days, and that the legal services are analysing the judgment and the next steps to be taken, knowing that they will have to take into account what the Deputy and the Government transmit in this regard.

"Certainly," says the trade union section of Uliazpi, "this judgment is a great stir for the language policy established by our administrations, but above all for our linguistic rights."

Reactions: "Once again, the Court making language policy"

The Council of Euskalgintza and the Observatory on Linguistic Rights have described the judgment as "very serious" and have pointed out that it is one more step in the aggression of the judiciary: "Once again, the Court has initiated language policy". They have contacted those responsible for the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa to show their support and have called for a joint response to the "systematic intervention of the courts".

"In this case, moreover, the rights of one of the most vulnerable sectors of society are those that are violated, with special care needs due to functional differences or mental health problems. We all know how decisive the language is for proper monitoring," said Council Secretary General Idurre Eskisabel. The director of the Observatory on Linguistic Rights, Agurne Gaubeka, said in the same vein: "We must remember that taking into account the main objective of the public body Uliazpi, in the call for places for caregivers published, it is particularly important to adopt measures to guarantee the linguistic rights of the users of the service. Because, beyond their rights as citizens, these rights are especially directly linked to the health and well-being of these people."

For UEMA, the judgment is serious and retrograde, emphasizing that it violates current legislation. The President of the Commonwealth of Basque Municipalities, Iraitz Lazkano, points out that the sentence is out of time and out of place. “A retrograde view of the judgment that, through prohibitions, penalties and courts, has initially made the Basques disappear and has subsequently wanted to condemn us to be second-class citizens. It seems that some judges have not yet understood that Euskera is official in part of the Basque territory. In Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, in addition, new laws on linguistic policy and prioritization of the Basque country have been approved in recent years, and the ruling is contrary to them. It does not comply at all with Law 2/2016 and Decree 179/2019 that develops it.”