WHEN a severe-looking lady walked
into his real estate agency in Barcelona, Angel Centeno knew she had no interest
in buying a house. Instead, she waved a piece of paper and informed Mr Centeno
he had been fined €1,000 ($1,130). Why? The 66-year-old businessman, born and
raised in Barcelona, had broken Catalonia’s most notorious consumer law: his
company sign appeared only in Spanish.
Mr Centeno is not the only
one to receive this unpleasant surprise from Catalonia’s regional government,
the Generalitat. The consumer code’s requirement – more than a decade old - sets
forth that businesses must publish all public information “at least in Catalan”.
Those who insist on writing signs, menus or catalogues only in Spanish can be
fined anywhere from hundreds to thousands of euros, depending on company size
or the quantity of untranslated language. Rafael Moreno, a furniture retailer
who owes €1,260 worth of fines, fears the government will seize the sum from
his bank account. But replacing the three-meter Spanish logo at one of his
shops with one in Catalan could cost him €18,000.
Civic groups and liberal opposition politicians are increasingly
alarmed. As the government’s desire to secede from Spain grows, so does its
determination to enforce Catalan as the region’s only official language.
The multas linguisticas, as the fines are known in Spanish, are rising. In
2014, 57 businesses were fined a total of €51,300. In 2015 the number of
businesses rose to 68, and the sum trebled. So far this year nearly a hundred
companies have been sanctioned.
A few years ago a patriotic
librarian, Roger Seuba, denounced 5,000 companies. Business owners say other
citizens take the law into their own hands, smashing shop windows or
spray-painting their façades.
The Spanish and Catalan
languages enjoy co-official status in the region. When reviewing Catalonia’s
independence status in 2010, the Constitutional Court of Spain ruled that
imposing either language on private enterprises violates the constitution. Yet
fines kept being imposed.
Montserrat Ribera, the
director of Catalonia’s consumer agency, explains language fines enshrine the
fundamental right of Catalan consumers to be served in their own tongue and
they are necessary to help preserve the language. However, not everybody agrees.
The regional branch of the conservative Popular Party says the language fines
violate freedom of expression.
After the fine, Mr Centeno refuses to speak in his mother tongue. He
demands that all government documents sent to his mailbox be written in
Spanish.
