The People's Party (PP) and Vox agree to change the name of Valencia to Valencia/Valencia.

Barcelona / ValenciaCastilianization and anti-Catalanism are advancing in the Valencian Community with the PP and Vox. Change the regional law to define the city as a Spanish-speaking areaNow the Valencia City Council has approved a request to the Generalitat Council - the body that assigns the official names of the municipalities - to admit as official "the bilingual denomination", That is, the forms Valencia (with a closed accent, to mark the usual pronunciation) and Valencia (without an accent, in Spanish) instead of the traditional form, Valencia, as established by the regulations. The PSPV-PSOE and Compromís have opposed it.

The name change follows the path initiated in Castellón de la Plana, which also has opted for the double denomination. In the capital of the Valencian Country, the commitment to change the name of the Catalan form is added, contravening the position of the majority of members of the Valencian Academy of Language (AVL), which in 2022 validated that the official name was Valencia because he considered that it was the best way to maintain "the continuity" of the written tradition, while recommending that the pronunciation be "closed".

Nine years of change

The PP and Vox have argued that the change is a matter of "common sense" because it has to do with "social reality" and because they are "supporters of bilingualism." The Councilor for Cultural Action, José Luis Moreno, emphasized that the modification is supported by a historical and linguistic report prepared by the grammarian and retired professor at the University of Valencia, Abelard Saragossà, and that it is based on "the actual pronunciation of the municipality's inhabitants as a criterion."

Moreno defended that the AVL (Valencian Association of Local Authorities) agreed in 2021 to change the accent of the municipality of Énova for the same reason and says that "it is not sacrilege" because "philology is not an exact science" and "evolves." "In all languages, there are exceptions to the rule," says Moreno. "The administration's obligation is to adapt to the way of speaking and promote the names used by Valencians." For his part, José Gosálbez, spokesperson for Vox - the party that promoted the formula with a closed accent - added that Valencia It is "a form imposed without consensus, without respect, without Valencianism, and with a lot of Catalanism." The bilingualization or Castilianization of place names is a right-wing battleground throughout the Catalan-speaking world, but also in areas of the state where other official languages exist.

The change comes nine years after the Valencia City Council, then led by Compromís and the PSPV, approved that the official name of the city be Valencia, to adapt the name of the municipality to the one established by the AVL in the toponymic corpus published in 2009. A decision that was upheld by the Valencian High Court of Justice in 2019, dismissing an appeal by the PP.

The change of toponym must now be ratified by the Generalitat Valenciana. Before that, the Valencian Academy of Language will need to issue a report, which, however, is not binding. The Generalitat has the final say.