The City Council has approved the subsidy call for 2026, with the application period open until December 31. The call covers exterior signage (main sign, awning, shop window, and vehicles) and interior linguistic landscape (catalogues, menus, etc.).
This initiative is directly linked to the AROA 2023-2027 Basque Strategic Plan, specifically to developing strategies for the everyday use of Basque. Results from the latest street linguistic landscape analysis, conducted through the Hitzargune program, show that Basque presence on main signs is 37% and on shop windows is 22%. Therefore, the City Council aims to increase Basque's presence through these subsidies.
Subsidies are available to natural or legal persons operating commercial, hospitality, or other service establishments in Gernika-Lumo.
This year, 2,000 euros will be allocated to this subsidy, with the possibility of increasing the budget in 2027 depending on the number of applications. To qualify, applicants must meet requirements such as having signed the Hitzargune program agreement with the City Council, ensuring the signage is grammatically and orthographically correct, not solely consisting of proper names, toponyms, acronyms, or surnames, being permanent, and writing terms with similar Basque and Spanish spellings exclusively in Basque. When multiple official languages are used, Basque presence must be at least equivalent to Spanish or other languages.
The Gernika-Lumo City Council's Euskera Service will offer free translation and advisory services to interested parties to ensure the accuracy of the subsidized signage texts.
