Spain - September 2023

Catalan, Galician and Basque were officially used in the lower house of Parliament for the first time on 19 September, after the Congress of the Deputies approved changes to Congressional regulations, with 180 votes in favour and 170 against. Live translation and earphones were provided to all parliamentarians. The change comes as acting prime minister Pedro Sánchez tries to secure the support of the Catalan pro-independence parties for forming a new government. Far-right Vox and the conservative People’s Party (PP), who support centralisation, protested the use of regional languages in the lower house with walkouts and refusals to wear the earphones. Historically, all regional languages were censored during the Franco regime. Since then, they have been given official status alongside Castilian Spanish in their respective regions. Today, an estimated 9.1 million people speak Catalan, 2.6 million speak Galician and 1.1 million speak Basque.

Sources: Congress of Deputies, El País, The Guardian, The Economist, Reuters