The new Baiona Euskera Plan will be approved in February 2024, after being rejected many times. The Language Policy Officer, Xabier ₡-Etchart, explains that it was originally planned to be presented before the summer, but the plan was postponed by 14 December and will eventually be sent to the local council in early February 2024, as the media explained Kazeta.eus.

There is a general debate on the issue. The elected agents and positions of the opposition and the Basque culture sector have been “generally dissatisfied”, highlighting the “lack of ambition” and the “lack of rapid political will” in the process of drawing up the plan.

Tomorrow Jean-Marc Abadi, elected from the Baiona opposition group, confirmed the “lack of ambition” of the plan and highlighted the “shortage of human and economic resources”: “The same things are put in place as in the 2017-2020 Plan.”

In addition, uncertainty about the budget for work has generated concern. Although they have designed a programme of activities for the Basque Country, no specific amounts are mentioned. The budget allocation will be completed in February 2024, coinciding with the general budget vote: “At the moment there is no concrete quantity.”

The members of the Euskera supramunicipal committee hope to consult them before the vote, as they have not had contact with the Euskera service since September. The plan will be submitted to the committee in advance.

The plan comes “late”

The vote on the plan has been very late. A total of 46 participants gathered in three working groups: “transmit”, “disseminate” and “share” have held nine meetings between January and March 2023, but have not reconvened until 27 September for the introductory session.

This Plan is responsible for defining the city’s language policy until 2026, following the previous plan 2017 to 2020. In 2020 there was no plan due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A member of the Basque Committee says it is “late” to present the plan: “The process has taken a long time. In 2023. If this plan is approved in December, it will be implemented during the last two years of the mandate.” He adds that they have felt a “great inertia” and a “lack of will” on the part of those responsible.