The Official Gazette has published a grant agreement of 760,395 euros for Basque-language cinema

The Basque Government and the ICAA —the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts— have published an agreement in the Boletín Oficial del País Vasco to allocate a designated grant to promote the production, distribution, exhibition, and promotion of cinema and audiovisual works in Basque. It was announced via Resolution 90/2026, in issue number 188 on October 1, 2026, and the agreement involves 760,395.49 euros for the 2022 event. The grant will be managed by the Directorate for the Promotion of Culture of the Basque Government, as the beneficiary.

The published text was signed by the two organizations on November 25, 2022, and had not been included in the official gazette until now. The agreement implements a designated grant, that is, direct aid established by a law-level regulation, under the protection of article 22.2.b) of the General Law Ley 38/2003. At the same time, it serves as a regulatory basis, according to articles 65.3 and 66 of law Ley 38/2003 and royal decree Real Decreto 887/2006.

Why the Basque Country receives this amount

Article 36 of the Cinema Law Ley 55/2007 establishes that the state will create a fund to promote cinematography and audiovisual works in a co-official language other than Spanish, and that this fund will be fully transferred to the autonomous communities so that they may manage it according to their competencies. The criterion for determining the individualized amount is the investment made by each community in 2021 in the co-official language; there are six communities in this situation.

Since the total amount was lower than the sum of the 2021 investments, a pro-rata distribution was applied, and furthermore, it had to be verified that the amount did not exceed 50% of the aid received by audiovisual companies in that community from the ICAA in 2021.

10.5 million euro fund

Ley 22/2021, of December 28, the General State Budget for 2022, is the source of the fund: application 37.01.941O.45405, named “Promoción de la cinematografía en lenguas cooficiales,” amounting to 10,500,000 euros. This amount was transferred to the ICAA’s 2022 expenditure budget, application 24.103.335C.455.

As specified in the third clause of the agreement, the portion corresponding to the Basque Country is 760,395.49 euros, and the ICAA will transfer it in a single payment, prior to justification, as an advance payment as provided for in article 34.4 of law Ley 38/2003. No guarantee is required, as no risk of non-compliance with obligations is perceived.

Signatories

The agreement was signed by Beatriz Navas Valdés, the general director of the ICAA —appointed by **Real Decreto 891/2018—, and Aitziber Atorrasagasti Calcedo, the Director for the Promotion of Culture of the Basque Government, according to the powers contained in Decreto 73/2021.

The publication was ordered by Resolution 90/2026, dated September 15, signed by Jon Iñaki Urbina García de Vicuña, the Director of the Government Secretariat and Relations with Parliament.

Deadlines and obligations

The beneficiaries have the following commitments:

• To call for and provide aid, whether through competition or directly, to promote the production, distribution, exhibition, and promotion of audiovisual works in Basque during the 2022 event.
• To carry out promotion activities according to their competencies.
• To accept the obligations and make the payment before December 1, 2023.

Regarding the justification:

• The acknowledgment of responsibility had to be submitted before March 31, 2023.
• The final justifying report before December 10, 2023.

The duration of the agreement ends on December 15, 2023, and does not allow for extensions. Uncommitted funds must be returned by December 31, 2022, and unpaid commitments by December 1, 2023. The grants are compatible with those received from other administrations or organizations for the same purpose.

For the Basque-language audiovisual sector, the agreement provided a boost of 760,395.49 euros in 2022, and this publication allows the use of public funds to be verified through official documents. Another detail of the news, however, is that the text was published almost four years later: the agreement was signed in November 2022 and its duration ended in December 2023.

Fuente: Boletín Oficial del País Vasco, n.º 188, 1 de octubre de 2026, Otras Disposiciones (official reference: 2026/4069).