The Spanish government partially rescues the Valencian Academy of Language

ValenciaThe Spanish government will rescue the Valencian Academy of Language (AVL) and offset part of the 25% reduction in the institution's funding agreed upon by the Popular Party and Vox. This was announced this Thursday by the Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities and Secretary General of the PSPV (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), Diana Morant, at an event organized in Valencia by the Forum Europa Tribuna Mediterrània.

Morant emphasized that, with a grant of 200,000 euros, the Spanish government will attempt to alleviate the cuts suffered by the institution, which has gone from having 3.9 million euros in 2024 to 2.9 million this year. "We will save the Academy," said the minister, addressing the president of the regulatory body, Verònica Cantó, who was present at the conference. The leader of the Valencian Socialists also announced that the subsidy will increase to 330,000 euros in 2026. "The ministry recognizes the AVL and will strengthen it," she summarized.

Diana Morant used her speech to criticize the PP and Vox, whom she described as "cheap defenders" of Catalan. In this regard, she pointed out that the PP "prohibits speaking Valencian in the Senate." They are against its use "in Europe" and "they have removed content" in their own language on the regional radio and television of À Punt.

The budget cuts for the AVL were agreed upon by the PP government at the urging of Vox and have occurred at the same time that the Generalitat (Catalan Regional Government) has increased funding for organizations that deny the unity of the Catalan language. Thus, the agreement with the secessionist Royal Valencian Academy of Culture has increased from €15,000 in 2004 to €50,000 this year. This is the same amount that the also anti-Catalanist Lo Rat Penat (The Rat Penat) will receive. Along the same lines, the Valencia City Council has agreed to request the Council –the body that assigns official names to municipalities– to admit as official "the bilingual name", 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 and normative form, Valencia.

The actions of the PP and Vox have recently led more than 300 writers, such as Manel Baixauli, Martí Domínguez, Ferran Torrent, Mercè Climent and Rafa Lahuerta, to sign a manifesto rejecting the politicization of the language and at the same time expressing their support for the AVL. The document denounces the attacks "of various kinds" suffered by Catalan and emphasizes that the language "must remain outside of partisan debate." The manifesto warns of the "cornering" of Valencian within the educational system, until now the only area in which a certain normality was aspired to, according to the signatories, and also of the "attempts at minoritization in the Audiovisual Corporation of the Valencian Community." The authors conclude that the debate on language issues is the responsibility of the AVL, not the public.