The OCB qualifies the legislative term as a "black four-year period" for the language and culture of the Balearic Islands

PalmaThe legislature has been a "black four-year period" for the language and culture of the Balearic Islands. This is the assessment made by the president of the Obra Cultural Balear, Antoni Llabrés, after attending the third and final general policy debate of the term, which, according to the entity, has confirmed the bad omens it had at the beginning of the legislature.

Llabrés has denounced that these four years have been marked by a "disastrous" combination of regressive measures and generalized and sustained inaction in all areas, especially regarding the linguistic integration of the newly arrived population. Beyond the measures derived from the agreements between the PP and Vox in linguistic matters, especially in the areas of Education and the civil service, the OCB has reproached Marga Prohens' executive for its "inhibition" in the face of the climate of hostility against the language, culture, and identity of the Islands. “The Executive of the President of the Government, Marga Prohens, with the excuse of governability, neglects the responsibility to exercise the statutory function that corresponds to it in defense of the language and culture of the Balearic Islands,” the entity pointed out in a statement.

The OCB reproaches Prohens that the promises have not been fulfilled

The organization has also lamented that the references Prohens made during last year's debate regarding the need to protect the identity, culture, and language of the Balearic Islands have not been translated into concrete measures. According to Llabrés, while the Government made these proclamations, the sociolinguistic situation has not stopped worsening. "One year after the grand proclamations, it can be confirmed that it was all smoke," stated the president of the OCB.

The criticism comes as it marks 40 years since the approval of the Law of Linguistic Normalization, an anniversary that Llabrés believes should serve to promote decisive policies for the promotion of Catalan. The objective, he argued, must be to reverse the social fragility of the language and guarantee its normalized presence in all areas of public life. "Necessary actions cannot be postponed while the native language loses spaces of use and social transmission, because the Catalan language is a shared heritage and a right of the citizenry, but also an unavoidable responsibility of public authorities," he asserted.

In this sense, Llabrés recalled that two years ago the OCB presented the Government with a document containing 50 measures for immediate application to guarantee the linguistic and cultural sustainability of the Balearic Islands. It is a set of proposals prepared by experts and oriented towards various areas of priority action which, according to the entity, have still not received any response from the Executive and remain kept in a drawer at the Consolat de la Mar.

They demand linguistic reception policies for the newly arrived population

The OCB has also focused on the demographic growth of the Islands, which the President of the Government herself described as "unsustainable" during last year's general policy debate. For Llabrés, this diagnosis must be accompanied by effective policies for reception and linguistic and cultural inclusion.

The president of the organization has claimed that people arriving in the Balearic Islands must have real opportunities to learn Catalan, use it, and fully integrate into the community. Without a sufficient supply of training, accessible resources, and active integration policies, he warned, access to the language remains conditioned by individual opportunities and social inequalities.

"Defending one's own language does not mean excluding anyone; it means providing everyone with the necessary tools to be part of the host society under equal conditions," he highlighted. Therefore, the OCB has demanded a reception policy that assumes this responsibility and positions Catalan as a tool for participation, cohesion, and coexistence. The organization considers that the promotion of the language cannot be limited to institutional declarations, but rather needs resources and concrete actions to ensure that everyone can learn it and use it normally.