The head of Culture of the government of the socialist Pedro Sánchez, Ernest Urtasunassumed in a speech to the Congress of Deputies the Nationalist theses on Catalan “a language in worrying decline” and boasted of provide “political and economic support and assistance” to “all those entities” which, according to him, “suffer from the attacks of PP and Vox”, among which he highlighted Valencian school And Cultural action of the Valencian Country. Both of Catalan nature and generously watered by the socialist governments Ximo Puig in the Valencian Community.
Ernest Urtasun He said that these entities have the full support of the Government, because as long as he is Minister of Culture, he will not tolerate any attack on the “linguistic and cultural plurality of our country.” It turns out that Valencian is not one of the languages recognized by the Congress of Deputies, but Catalan is.
Specifically, among the co-official languages recognized by Congress in an agreement already adopted during this legislature, in September 2023, the Chamber approved the recognition of Catalan, Basque, Galician, Bable and Aranese. But not from ValenciaThis agreement was voted against by PP, Vox and UPN.
The “worrying decline” in the social use of Catalan, which Ernest Urtasun spoke about in Congress, is precisely the thesis defended not only by the new executive of Salvador Illa, but also in the past. Language platformcalling itself the Catalan and Training NGO that promoted the denunciation of teachers and students who did not speak this language in the universities of Catalonia.
HAS Valencian school And Cultural action of the Valencian CountryThe new government of Carlos Mazón has eliminated subsidies as part of its mission to end the accelerated process what has been experienced in recent years in the Valencian Community. Furthermore, Mazón had already announced at that time that the future law on identity signs of the Valencian Community would include a section that will prevent subsidizing entities that do not comply with the Spanish Constitution and the Valencian Statute of Autonomy.
The presentation of the Minister of Culture took place this September 11 in response to a question from Gabriel Rufián (ERC). It turns out that, as published by OKDIARIO, the new executive of Salvador Illa has reached a pact for the Catalan language at a cost of 200 million euros for the Catalan public coffers. These 200 million are equivalent to what, in the Valencian Community, the Government, in these moments of PP and Vox that Urtasun is now criticizing, has saved the Valencians with the new tax deductions in their first year of validity: 180 million euros.
Subsidized by the governments of Ximo Puig
Regarding the entities to which Urtasun referred, Valencian school is precisely the entity that appealed the law on educational freedom approved by PP and Vox in the Valencian Community. This law guarantees the right of families to decide in which language they want their children to be educated at school.
Between the years 2016 and 2021, Valencian school received at least 990,000 euros from the governments of Ximo Puig. And, after the regional and municipal elections of 2023, Compromís closed its mandate in the Generalitat Valenciana and the Valencia City Council with subsidies that, between the two administrations, amounted to 125,000 euros.
Regarding Cultural action of the Valencian Country received, at least, between 2016 and 2021, in the Valencian Community and under the governments of Ximo Puig, 379,814 euros.
