Controversy over the new signs in Spanish on the AP-7: the ministry will review whether there have been any "anomalies"

BarcelonaJunts has denounced in Congress the Castilianization of Catalan place names on signs along the AP-7 highway. Responding to complaints from various users on social media, who shared photos with specific examples, such as Barberá (with a closed accent), Montornes (without an accent), or the Girona Sud/Sur and Oest/Oeste exits (now bilingual), on Tuesday they submitted a series of questions regarding the changes in road signage, which in some cases has switched from Catalan to Castilian. The same is happening in the Valencian Community, with Valencia (without an accent) and Alicante (replacing it with Alacant). In fact, the toponymy of the Valencian Community is one of the main points of contention for the current PP and Vox government. On Wednesday, Junts deputy Isidre Gavín denounced "the Spanishization of public spaces" and stated on RAC1: "They are taking us back to Francoism." Gavín asserts that there is a "replacement of signs to add the place name in Spanish when it is completely unnecessary, absurd, and pointless." He also frames this within the critical situation of the social use of Catalan. "Is now the time to do this? It doesn't make sense. Are they Catalanizing the second channel of Spanish Television and Castilianizing the roads?" he asked. For this reason, they have asked the Ministry of Transport, which is responsible for the AP-7 highway, to explain why these changes have been made. Miriam Nogueras also made reference to this. in Wednesday's session Addressing Pedro Sánchez directly.

The ministry has confirmed to ARA that some signs have been renewed "because they were in poor condition and to correct the numbering of exits that were incorrectly kilometered." The AP-7 was a highway that had a concession with Abertis (Acesa) until 2021, the year it was taken over by the state. Since then, it has been under the jurisdiction of the Directorate General of Highways, the current responsible body. The ministry states that 22 signs have been renewed, 20 of which are exclusively in Catalan because they are official place names, and only two have been made bilingual. The DGC (Directorate General of Highways) assures that it complies with the criteria established in the standard (8.1 IC) and that it "is evaluating whether any non-compliance has occurred." "If any anomaly is detected, it will work immediately to resolve it."

Why are there bilingual signs?

But why is road signage in Spain bilingual? Because that's what Spanish regulations stipulate. According to Article 56 of the Traffic Law, which refers to language, signs with text "must appear in Spanish and, in addition, in the official language of the autonomous community recognized in its respective Statute of Autonomy, when the sign is located within the territorial scope of said community." Instruction 8.1 for vertical road signage indicates that proper names must be written with the official toponym, and that they must first appear in the community's own language followed by Spanish. The Traffic Law was amended in 2021 and came into force in March 2022, the result of negotiations with the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) to include signage in co-official languages. The previous version of the law, from 2015, simply stated that the written information on signs must be "at least in the official Spanish language of the State."

However, place names already appeared in Catalan before 2022, because Catalan road law states that signs must be in Catalan at a minimum, and in Aran, also in Occitan. Furthermore, the Generalitat (Catalan government) A report was issued in 2017 which legally endorsed the exclusive use of Catalan on signs in compliance with legislation on the official status of the language and defending exclusive competence in matters of roads and urban signage. In practice, on roads managed by local authorities and the Generalitat (Catalan government), the criterion has generally been to use only the local language, instead of bilingual or trilingual signage, for reasons of space efficiency and because it does not lead to any confusion among users. The question, then, is why has there been this change in signage now, when until now Barberà or Montornès appeared in Catalan? Vox is waging a veritable crusade against Catalan place names. And it already presented a proposal in Congress in 2024 to recover place names like Girona and Ourense. It is also part of an offensive to change street signs, which unionist groups like Convivencia Cívica Catalana have been periodically promoting at the municipal level. In 2023, this group denounced signs in L'Hospitalet that were written only in Catalan.