Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Two Spanish MEPs jeer at the Catalan MEP Ramon Tremosa for not speaking in Spanish

Strasbourgh.- Today Wednesday, two Spanish Members of the European Parliament have jeered at Ramon Tremosa, a Catalan MEP, for speaking in English instead of Spanish. As Tremosa explains in his tweet: I have defended an oral amendment in the plenary, in English as usual. Some people shouted "hablas mejor espaƱol! [you speak better Spanish!]". 2011 or 1939?

Tremosa asks himself "2011 or 1939?" regarding to the dark times of Franco's dictatorship (1939-1975), during which Catalan was forbidden in Spain. The behaviour of the Spanish MEPs is just another example of the intolerance that politicians in Spain have toward Catalan language and culture. The funny thing though is that Tremosa was speaking in English during the plenary, not in Catalan. That's simply pure arrogance for believing that Spanish should be the leading language in the world. After all, the mean level in English skills in Spain are reduced to know what does "motherfucker" and mean.

Ramon Tremosa - MEP