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Aragon to scrap unscientific denominations for Catalan, Aragonese languages
Aragonese Parliament begins to delete awkward LAPAO, LAPAPYP names from laws · Huesca municipality takes step towards Aragonese-Spanish bilingualism
Huesca is Aragon's second largest city, only behind Zaragoza.
The motion was filed by Aragón Sí Puede (ASP, Podemos' party local brand) and was supported by all left parties, including PSOE and Cambiar Huesca (an alliance made up by United Left, Equo, pro-independence Puyalón and C+ local platform). Pro-Spanish, right parties PP and Citizens (C's) voted against.
According to ASP spokeswoman, the motion's approval will allow the full use of Aragonese as set in Aragon's 2013 Law of Languages, which was drafted and approved by PP's former majority in the Aragonese Cortes. The law sparked controversy as the languages' scientific names of "Catalan" and "Aragonese" were replaced in the text by the awkwardly long denominations "Own Aragonese language of Eastern Aragon" for the former, and "Own Aragonese language of the Pyrenees and the Pre-Pyrenees", which came to be commonly -and somewhat satirically- known by the Spanish acronyms "LAPAO" and "LAPAPYP".
Left parties -who now form the government of Aragon and hold the majority in the Aragonese Parliament- say they are not satisfied with the 2013 law and will seek to pass a new one. Aragonese president Javier Lambán (PSOE) said some months ago he would be seeking to replace the 2013 lay with a previous, 2009 law that indeed recognized Aragonese and Catalan by their names.
Earlier this week, the Aragonese Cortes' left-wing majority approved an amendment -introduced by the Chunta Aragonesista party- to the Law on Cultural Heritage that has the denominations "Catalan of Aragon" and "Aragonese" included in the law's wording to refer to both languages.