The Basque Government will appeal a sentence that allows being a local police officer in the Basque Country without a high Basque profile

The court has agreed with the UGT union that denounced a call to access the position with a “discriminatory” language level. The Basque Government will appeal because it considers it “basic” that this body relate to society in Basque to provide better service to citizens The PNV describes it as “amazing” and says that it “violates linguistic rights” There are already precedents. In February of this year, a judge in Vitoria annulled the dismissal of an interim official from the municipality of LLodio, Álava, who had not accredited the linguistic profile 3 of Euskera, a language with “extraordinary difficulties” in learning, she argued. Now, a ruling by the Contentious-Administrative Court number 2 of Vitoria-Gasteiz has ruled in favor of the UGT-Euskadi and allows the admission in the call of the Euskadi local police job boards to all those applicants who do not have the level B2 of the Basque language. In this case for being “discriminatory” According to the union in a statement, in August 2021 a selection procedure was convened for the creation of a Pool of Interim Agents, a call to which people who could not prove this level could not apply. linguistic. “The situation created in this call contradicts the inspiring principles of access to the public function, in the sense that it leaves out the entire population that cannot prove the level of Basque B-2 and that could legally occupy certain jobs, so it could be understood that discriminatory treatment is taking place,” they point out. In the same sentence, UGT is also right in its claim that the training received before 2019 is valid. It was not taken into account in that call and “If it had been done, the temporary personnel of the Local Police who were occupying their position prior to that year could not continue carrying out their work as they did not have the course completed” they point out. The Basque Government will appeal and the PNV finds it “amazing” The Basque Government has confirmed that it will appeal a sentence, which “abstracts” from the legislation that has been in force for four decades to normalize language. Its spokesperson, Bingen Zupiria, believes that said law obliges institutions to serve citizens in the two official languages ​​and that it grants the right to be served in the language they wish. Sources from the Department of Security, in statements to Euskadi Irratia, have indicated that they consider it “strategic” that the local police officers who are sent to the Basque town halls be able to interact in Basque with the citizens. “It is a demand of the Basque city councils themselves, which so request it, because they consider it a problem” not to express themselves in this language. In his opinion, requesting the language requirement is “essential to respond to the growing demand for a police force that relates to society in Basque and, thereby, provide a better service to citizens.” The PNV has also criticized this judicial decision . The president of the BBB of the PNV, Itxaso Atutxa, stated this Tuesday that she received the news with “astonishment” and considered that this decision represents “a violation of the linguistic rights” of society. Thus, the Jeltzale leader stated that “Surely he is a good judge” and that “he has made that decision based on some law”, but he has asked himself “where are the linguistic rights of society in a country that, recognized by law, must be bilingual?”. “A language cannot violate anything else, a language is not there to go against anyone, and I believe that the rights of Basque speakers and of the whole society must be protected, and I do not see that this type of sentences do it”, has concluded.