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<div class="">A cafe in Tarragona, Catalonia. Photo: <a href="http://bit.ly/21e5Wnw">Jake Bellucci</a>/Flickr Creative Commons.</div>
<h1 id="page_title">Catalonia triples fines against businesses not using Catalan</h1>
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Published: 26 Apr 2016 12:35 GMT+02:00<br>Updated: 26 Apr 2016 12:35 GMT+02:00
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<p class="">
<strong>Spain’s
separatist-driven northeastern region has stepped up fines against
restaurants and bars for not using the local language on things like
menus and signs.</strong></p>
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<p>
The Catalan government revealed in a parliamentary inquiry recently by
the conservative Popular Party (PP) that the amount of fines against
businesses that did not use Catalan increased by 173 percent in the past
year.</p>
<p>
The government had issued fines totalling €51,350 in 2014, but by 2015,
the fines had soared to €140,000, Spanish media reported this week.</p>
<p>
The autonomous region has a language policy that requires businesses to
offer their services in Catalan, including on signs, menus, wine lists
and prices, according to the government’s website.</p>
<p>
Both Catalan and Castilian Spanish are official languages in the
autonomous region, but the government’s policy also grants certain
protections for the regional tongue.</p>
<p>
"The concept of Catalonia's own language applied to Catalan commits the
public authorities and institutions in Catalonia to safeguard Catalan,
to use it in a general manner and to promote its public use at all
levels," the <a href="http://llengua.gencat.cat/en/detalls/article/Preambul-00005" target="_blank">Catalonian government website on the policy states</a>.</p>
<p>
Some 68 companies were fined in 2015 over the language policy, up from 57 in 2014, according to <a href="http://www.elmundo.es/cataluna/2016/04/22/571a0f33e5fdea08738b457b.html" target="_blank">El Mundo</a>. Most were bars and restaurants in Barcelona that did not include Catalan on their menus.</p>
<p>
And more than 20 of the companies fined were based in places outside of Catalonia.</p>
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