La llengua a l'Estatut valencià. Comentaris a les disposicions lingüístiques del nou Estatut valencià

Abstract

The process of reforming the Valencian Statute of Autonomy, which culminated in the passage of the April 10, 2006 Implementing Act, reforming the July 1, 1982 evidenced an extremely high degree of consensus between the two majority parties, the Popular Party and the Socialist Party of Valencia. In addition to agreeing on a single model for the region and besides sharing views on the major socioeconomic issues, these two political forces wanted the Valencian reform to serve as an example of how sovereignist aspirations present in the processes of reform for other Statutes, in particular, the Basque and Catalan statutes of Autonomy, could be contained. And that’s how it turned out, every bit the example of "constitutional loyalty." Debating and amending the reform was an extremely quick procedure. The critiques of other sectors, such as the so-called "Commitment to the Statute," -- a group aspiring to a Statute of Autonomy that would be more progressive, a group committed, among other things, to the defense of the language, a group made up of cultural and language-defense associations, unions, parliamentary leftist parties, other minority parties, intellectuals and various well known active, public figures in Valencia -- failed to mobilize Valencian society, nor were they listened to by the major parties. The result of the reform process has been disappointing and is characterized by a preservation of the status quo as regards language rights and by a fixation with many of the secessionist obsessions of the most recent Valencian administrations. Nor do the reforms contain any important advance in language rights. The new text does not grant any new rights or duties, such as the duty to know the language, nor does it generally recognize the need to establish a language requirement for the Valencian government. Lastly, not only does it not provide any solution for old problems, such as the explicit recognition of the Catalan character of Valencian, but rather, it aggravates the proper name issue and opens the door to new problems, such as that of dual language authority and the existence of a double set of standards with the recognition in the Statute of Autonomy of Valencia of the Valencian Academy of the Language and its authority to establish and impose language standards.