The agents have stressed that the law influences the future and the recovery process of the Basque Country, but that in 2020 the presence of the Basque Country in the draft bill presented by the Spanish Government was “very marginal”. They contributed to the draft and “were not taken into account, none,” said Paul Bilbao, Secretary-General of the Council. In view of this, it transforms its contributions into amendments that were forwarded to the Basque parties.

“The parties have made amendments, and between them it can be said that our contributions are included. That doesn’t mean I’m going to collect the laws, of course.” This Thursday the Committee of the Spanish Congress Conference will analyze all these amendments and “now the final decisions will be made, the decisions that will condition the future”. It is expected that it will be voted in plenary on 26 May.

Content of the Act

In order to guarantee the minimum presence of the Basque Country, the agents have listed the points to be included in the law:

- As for pre-financing, allocate a minimum of 8 per cent to each minority language. Moreover, in the general catalogue, 40% will be allocated to their own minority languages, but the requirement that each language will have a minimum of 12% will be included.

- To establish the obligation to include the subtitles and dues in Basque, Catalan and Galician in the works carried out with public money, making it easier for public bodies to do so.

- Establishment of minimum quotas on public television: broadcast of territorial information in its official language, duplication of contents of Clan TV…

- Include the menus of the platforms in Basque.

- Highlight the contents in Basque through the geolocation of its location.

- That the Autonomous Communities may introduce new requirements for the development of the law and for the promotion of their official languages.