The Government will invoke the ruling that local police do not need level B2 in Basque.
- In the words of the Basque Government's Department of Security, the requirement of the linguistic level "is fundamental for the Basque Police to relate to society" and "to give a better service to citizenship". Thus, he has announced an appeal against the decision of Judge Ana María Martínez, the same one that issued a controversial judgment against the City of Laudio, by which level B2 of Euskera should not be credited for registration in the public call of the Municipal Police.
The Administrative Court of Vitoria-Gasteiz ruled in favour of UGT: In order to be part of the Euskadi Municipal Police's work bag, it will not be necessary to certify the Euskera level B2. Judge Ana María Martínez says that the candidates who were left out of the list will have to be re-admitted for failing to meet this requirement. In fact, he was the judge who commissioned the City of Laudio to readmit an interim official (who lost his post for not having an Euskera profile), arguing that the City Hall did not take into account that “Euskera is the fifth most difficult language in the world.”
In the present case, the UGT trade union filed the appeal on the grounds that in the public call of 2021 they “discriminated” against candidates of the Municipal Guard who had not accredited level B2. The union argued that these people are able to cover “some jobs”, although they recognized that they cannot serve the citizens in Basque, as the Berria newspaper has pointed out.
The Council of Euskalgintza has strongly denounced the resolution and warned that it is a violation of citizens’ rights. Secretary General Paul Bilbao has criticised the actions of the courts and called on the citizens to face: "In recent months we have been saying that the Courts are doing linguistic policy, which is following an offensive against the rights of the Basques. High, today's resolution is just the other link in that chain. That's why we think we need to respond to all of this together."
ELA has also denounced that the resolution violates the “right to work in Euskera and to have citizens cared for in Euskera”. In order to deal with these kinds of resolutions, ELA proposes institutional oppositions and workbags.
The Observatory on Linguistic Rights reports that the judgment poses a risk to perpetuate violations of rights, to the detriment of citizens’ rights and of the service provided.
It is not uncommon for there to be litigation with the linguistic profiles of the Municipal Police. In particular, journalist Onintza Irureta made the following report on the violation of citizens’ linguistic rights by the police: Why don't agents speak to us in Basque?
I have always believed that Euskal Herria was like Sardes, at the height of Ziro Handia, who knew perfectly well that the customs and passion for the independence of a people or community are key to promoting their self-esteem, and that it was enough to use them with meaning to... [+]
Laborantza lizeoetan tokiko hizkuntzetako irakaskuntza sailen sortzea eztabaidatua izan da frantses legebiltzarrean. Legearen zuzenketa proposatu du Iñaki Etxaniz legebiltzarkideak.
