Catalan will once again be a requirement in order to work as a Health Service employee. This applies both to taking part in “oposiciones” (competitive public service exams) and joining the pool of workers applying for temporary employment.
The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed the cassation appeal lodged by the Govern against the ruling rejecting this decree handed down by the TSJB in January 2020, leaving the Catalan decree null and void, as there is no further appeal. All staff selection processes soon to be initiated by the Ministry of Health must therefore be governed by the provisions of the Civil Service Law of 2016.
The Supreme Court did not even assess the merits of the matter, which did not have “cassational interest”, explained sources at the Fiol law firm, representing the interests of the CSIF trade union which, together with STEI-i but for different reasons, appealed against a decree on Catalan passed in March 2012 to “soften” the language requirement for access to public employment in the Servei de Salut.
Level of Catalan lowered
It will be recalled that the decree on Catalan was much more lenient with regard to Catalan language proficiency for doctors and nurses. On the grounds of the lack of doctors and nurses, the Catalan decree enacted two years after the Civil Service Law lowered the level of Catalan language proficiency for them from B2 to B1.
“I sympathise with Mr. Fuster”
The president of the medical union (Simebal), Miguel Lázaro, believes that the Supreme Court ruling has unleashed the “perfect storm. I sympathise with Mr. Fuster [Juli, director general of the Servei de Salut] because I don’t know how he is going to manage this”. For the union leader, the issue has already moved beyond the linguistic controversy and is really about a notorious “shortage of doctors” in light of which the Govern “must make a move”.
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