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Note 3 december 2018

On 3 december 2018 has held the fifth meeting of the Official Languages has been held for the first time outside Madrid.

The minister of Territorial policy and Public Role today has travelled to Bilbao together with the secretary of state for Territorial Policy, Ignacio Sánchez Love, to chair the fifth meeting of the council of the official languages of the General state administration. The Last appointment of this body took place in may 2017, after six years. The minister had stated its willingness to resume its meetings on an annual basis, thereby fulfilling the standards of creation of the council ”.

The meeting had attended, in addition to representatives of all ministries, the assistant of culture and Language Policy of the basque government, look Dobaran, and the president of the royal academy of the basque language, Andrés Urrutia, who have been invited on the occasion of the international day of the basque language and whose presence had appreciated minister Batet explicitly. “ the Constitution enshrines the linguistic plurality as a heritage that is the object of special respect and protection, so that these obligations apply also to the General state administration in relation to all the languages of Spain, ” said Batet at the opening of the meeting.

The minister has insisted that “ the official languages in each autonomous community languages are not unrelated to the government and the General state administration (AGE), wherever it operates, but also their languages ” has advocated to enhance their use within the AGE so that it can be paid, among others, “ since the right of citizens to choose the language with which are addressed to the administration to expression of pluralism in the official and institutional pages ”.

The objective of the meeting has been assuming what the minister has described as “ outstanding tasks of state administration in the field of information and use of the official languages ”, especially by promoting their use in the field of public information on the internet and electronic administration, with attention to the regime of use of official toponyms. Also “ to advance cooperation with the regional administrations and institutions for linguistic minorities, in particular with regard to the promotion of learning of languages and in the field of external action service and international events, "said the minister.

Mobility accord signed by AGE

Batet recalled further that a few weeks ago, the government signed an agreement of mobility with public service unions which includes for the first time the commitment to recognize as merit the attention of the official languages in spain in the transfer and promotion of public servants.

“ in this way, not only aims at guaranteeing the right of citizens to the use of the mother of his choice, but also implies a boost to the learning of languages by public employees and thus to greater valuation, ” said Batet. To that end, the INAP has already called for the first time distance-learning courses in all official languages, to allow access for all employees of the AGE of knowledge.

“ the knowledge and use of languages is an obligation for the administrations. For citizens is primarily a right. For civil servants is also the wealth and the troop capacity of government and as such we want to recognize it ” has concluded Batet.

Following the meeting of the languages, the minister has shifted to the high court of justice of the Basque Country, where she had met with its chairman, Juan Luis Ibarra, and has had the opportunity to know the translation of the basque language developed by the court that “ we hope will contribute to the effective guarantee of their use in the administration of justice, "said Batet.