Video: @Albiol_XG / X
Albiol Defends Regional Control Over Language Policy
Xavier García Albiol, the People's Party (PP) candidate for Barcelona, stated on Thursday 12th November 2026 that the PP would not end mandatory Catalan linguistic immersion in schools in Catalonia if Alberto Núñez Feijóo becomes prime minister after the 29 November elections. Speaking during a candidate debate organised by the Prisa Group for El País and Ser Catalunya radio, Albiol was asked whether the PP’s electoral programme, which calls for a bilingual education model with both Spanish and Catalan as vehicular languages, would mean ending the current immersion system. He responded with a clear "no", explaining that education is a devolved competence of the Generalitat de Catalunya and therefore not subject to detailed regulation by the Spanish state.
"It is a competence of the Generalitat de Catalunya" and "not a matter that the State can regulate specifically and in detail,"
Albiol’s position diverges from the national PP platform, which in point 96 of its electoral programme asserts the constitutional right of all Spaniards to be educated in Spanish and commits to upholding judicial rulings that have deemed the current immersion model unlawful.
Party Divisions Over Language Policy
This is not the first time Albiol has distanced himself from the official PP stance on language. Earlier in the campaign, he defended the continued use of translation earpieces ("pinganillos") in Congress, contrary to the party’s 2025 political platform and its 2026 election programme, which call for their removal to reinforce Spanish as the common working language. While Feijóo has pledged to restore Spanish as the sole working language in Congress and to promote bilingual education in Catalonia, Albiol has focused on regional realities. In a recent interview on RTVE’s Cafè d'idees, he highlighted declining everyday use of Catalan in public life, stating: "We have a very serious problem [in Catalonia] and it is that Catalan is spoken less and less on the street." He argued that the focus should be on increasing the social use of Catalan, rather than changing the school model, and stressed that language in education should be handled by experts, not politicians.
The Badalona City Council, led by Albiol with an absolute majority, recently backed the National Pact for the Catalan Language, a cross-party initiative promoted by PSC, ERC, and Òmnium. The pact aims to strengthen Catalan in public and private spheres and was rejected by the national PP leadership. Despite these internal tensions, Albiol maintains he is not breaking with Feijóo. When asked if he disagrees with the party leader’s vision of "cordial bilingualism", he replied: "No, no. It’s just that [Feijóo] doesn’t talk about 50-50." The PP’s official position, as outlined in its 2026 electoral programme, includes reforming Congress rules to restrict the use of co-official languages and ensuring Spanish is the primary language of intergovernmental cooperation. For residents and parents in Catalonia, the debate raises questions about the future of language in education. While national party policy suggests a shift, Albiol’s statements indicate continuity with the current immersion model, at least at the regional level.
