The Berga City Council has created its own structure dedicated to concentrating and coordinating all municipal policies related to the use and promotion of Catalan. Councillor Rosa Rodríguez (CUP), who previously managed linguistic policies from the Education area, assumes responsibility for the new department.
“"We were carrying out actions that went beyond the educational scope and felt the need to create our own dedicated space, a Department of Language, to cover everything related to the language beyond education."
The creation of this area comes at a time of concern over the decline in the social use of Catalan and the lack of guaranteed linguistic rights, especially in vulnerable areas such as health. Therefore, the council considers it essential for citizens to have a clear and direct interlocutor on linguistic matters.
Although the area is new, actions are not starting from scratch. Catalan courses are already being held for newly arrived children and young people, both in the summer and during the school year. Furthermore, work has begun with the healthcare sector and linguistic monitoring has been carried out in fairs and commerce in collaboration with the Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística. The council is also exploring a volunteer program with Plataforma per la Llengua.
Rosa Rodríguez is confident that the new department will allow for the deployment of more initiatives and adds this responsibility to her existing roles as Councillor for Education, Cultural Rights, Popular Participation, and Feminism and LGTBI at the Berga City Council.
