Xavier García Albiol said Catalunya’s linguistic immersion system was not working properly at RTVE Catalunya’s first major debate ahead of the general election scheduled for 29 November. Held on 8 November at the broadcaster’s Centre de Producció in Sant Cugat del Vallès, the approximately 100-minute debate brought together six Barcelona candidates: Jordi Hereu of the PSC, Ernest Urtasun of Comuns-Front Ampli, Gabriel Rufián of ERC, Míriam Nogueras of Junts, Albiol of the PP and Juanjo Aizcorbe of Vox. RTVE identified Catalan-language education as a main point of confrontation. Rufián defended the immersion model and its role in integration.
Rufián said Spanish was his mother tongue, but he had chosen Catalan to speak with his children. He grew up in the Fondo neighbourhood of Santa Coloma de Gramenet, where he linked the beginnings of linguistic immersion to social integration. He said he was proud of the integration he associated with immersion, called for a strong defence of the model and argued that Catalan should be the only language in Catalunya. He also said Catalan had been retreating in recent years, criticising what he described as increased public spending alongside poor results.
The candidates took sharply different positions on the school-language model. Albiol called for it to be reconsidered from top to bottom, saying it had failed to deliver the expected results. Vox candidate Aizcorbe opposed compulsory immersion and advocated bilingual education and freedom of language use. He said both languages could be spoken and that he supported both. ABC reported that the debate also raised the legal application of compulsory Catalan immersion and families’ choice of language in education.
The debate covered four broad areas: public services and infrastructure, including railways; immigration, coexistence and security; housing, living costs and the economy; and political pacts, territorial organisation, self-government and language. RTVE also listed housing pressures, immigration management, railway shortcomings and the preservation of Catalan among the debate’s main subjects. Each party set out proposals on the housing crisis, a subject also covered in earlier campaign coverage comparing Sánchez and Feijóo’s approaches. The programme ended with an individual closing statement from each candidate.
