Controversy in Menorca over language: the left calls for resignations and criticizes the lack of rigor

PalmThe amendment to the Menorca Island Council's Language Use Regulations, promoted by the PP government with the support of the former Vox councilor, has sparked a major political and social controversy on the island. Several left-wing groups have filed objections to the text, which they consider a step backward in the defense of the Catalan language and a decision that reopens a debate that Menorca thought was settled.

Más por Menorca has been one of the most vocal opponents of the reform, which it blames on Regional Minister Joan Pons Torres, with the complicity of the President of the Island Council, Adolfo Vilafranca. The party denounces the widespread rejection of the regulatory change by civic and cultural organizations, as well as the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) and the Menorcan Institute of Studies (IME), which have pointed out technical, legal, and sociolinguistic shortcomings in the wording.

Similarly, Esquerra de Menorca-Esquerra Unida has filed a formal objection to join the institutional and social mobilization in defense of the language. The party points to non-compliance with the Law on Linguistic Normalization, the disregard for advisory bodies such as the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) and the Menorcan Institute of Language (IME), and the elimination of a pluralistic body to monitor the regulations, a function that would then fall directly under the purview of the relevant councilor.

Esteve Barceló, the general coordinator of Més per Menorca, described the reform as an "ideological agenda" and demanded political accountability in the face of widespread rejection. Both Més and Esquerra warn that questioning the unity of the Catalan language and weakening consensus mechanisms jeopardizes the linguistic health of the island and call on Menorcan society to raise its voice against a reform they consider an attack on their own language and on social cohesion.