Catalan and Occitan have begun to be used in 15 corporations in the French state
- Following the path opened by the municipality of Elna, about fifteen municipalities have approved by motion the possibility of taking the word in Catalan and Occitan in the municipal plenums, as well as the minutes sent to Jefatura, later translated into French. The 15 municipalities belong to the following regions: Rosellon, Vallespir and Fenolleda. A few days after this initiative, Jefatura has expressed its opposition to the City Hall of Elna for the adoption of this motion. In this news we have translated and summarized the theme that journalist Pablo Bonat has addressed in the Direct Media.
Bonate pointed out in the Directo medium that on January 19, the councillor of Elna, Pere Manzanares, was the first to agree in the corporation in Catalan and later translated into French what was said. The opposition councillors, outraged, rose from the chairs and left the room, making public their disagreement, using a non-French language and denouncing the municipal government to "belittle French republican law". These opposition members added that "citizens who did not understand Catalan felt excluded from public debate" and denounced the municipal government for "linguistic apartheid".
At three months, on 21 April, Elna was the first city council to approve by motion authorizing its elected officials to speak in Catalan in the municipal plenary, provided that they were then translated into French. "Elna has invested a lot in her sand: the cathedral, the cloister... Now he also invests in his immaterial residue and puts the use of Catalan into value," said Mayor Nicolás García. A few weeks after this vote in Elna, Jefatura sent a letter to the city hall of the region of Roussillon reminding that the use of Catalan in corporations is not allowed. In view of this, the municipal government consulted a lawyer who informed them that what the prefect indicated was not true, and they sent a report to the State's top representative in Northern Catalonia, Rodríguez Furcy, who ended up giving reason informally.
Subsequently, the City of Elna decided to amend the Rules of Procedure of the Local Corporations so that in the debates the possibility of taking the floor in Catalan was approved and the minutes sent to Jefatura were first written in Catalan and second in French. Jefatura denounces this initiative.
The Inter-Community Syndicate for Catalan and Occitan extends the initiative to other municipalities
In Catalan, SIOCCAT is called the Inter-Community Syndicate for Catalan and Occitan and brings together 116 municipalities that support the promotion of these two languages. This agent sent a motion such as Elna to all municipal governments to admit that the debates were conducted in Catalan or in Occitan and that the minutes were also written in French. Manzanares, a Member of Elna and a member of SIOCCAT, told Direct that "at least 15 municipalities have already voted and approved the motion."
Lu Escape, head of culture in Pesillà de la Ribera, told Direct: "It would be very good if more city councils adopted this motion. If we're 30, it will be harder to be convicted than to be one or two. If we come together we will be unstoppable. This initiative is very necessary to break the Jacobin mental scheme, one of the great obstacles of French society. Monolingualism is a great brake on the economic, cultural and human development of a territory like ours."
Britain has been the subject of simultaneous translation by local authorities.
In the midst of the salsa of the municipalities of Northern Catalonia, the Territorial Council of Brittany approved a motion authorizing the simultaneous translation in the official interventions in Breton and Galo. Until then there was no rule prohibiting the use of these languages, but if someone did, he had to translate them into French, which greatly reduced the speaking time to the speaker. Since then, they have performed a simultaneous translation in the Local Corporations. But, unlike the cases in Northern Catalonia, in Brittany the minutes are not written in Breton or Galo, but only in French.
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