This Tuesday, the director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero, maintained his criticism of the director of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), Santiago Muñoz Machado, and assured that the institution needs “a quality philologist and not a business lawyer”. In addition, … denounced a lack of institutional respect by deciding “on its own” that the next Congress of Languages would be held in Panama.
During an information meeting held at the headquarters of the Cervantes Institute, before the meeting of the Board of Directors to be held at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez, García Montero maintained that the Cervantes Institute became aware of this decision of the RAE “because other academies mentioned it.”
“From here we must not offend Panama because we are interested in international relations and do not allow crimes against a state institution like the Cervantes Institute, to which the director of the Royal Spanish Academy has accustomed us“, he said.
Regarding financing, the director of the Cervantes Institute stressed that the institution’s budget must be compared to that of other countries in Spain, considering that it is “much lower than investments in culture” of other states.
Likewise, he declared that the lack of approval of the General State Budgets (PGE) is “a serious problem” and stressed that anyone who uses them to “harm the Government is doing it to the State.” “It is very unpatriotic to go to Europe to say bad things about Spain and try to prevent budgets from coming out.; “I don’t believe in these false patriots,” he stressed.
Trump, “a slab”
García Montero also warned that Donald Trump’s government is “a rock” for the progress of Spanish in Americain response to what he called aggression toward Hispanics in the United States, and warned that “values are under attack by the American government.”
In this sense, he explained that during his last visit to the United States he had meetings with the heads of university departments of Spanish and cited as an example Columbia University, whose representatives were “very concerned.” According to him, statements that portray Hispanics as “rapists” or that they “eat pets” translate into policies that reduce Spanish and affect not only Spain, but “a very significant portion of Spanish speakers.”
“It is very sad to see policies that ridicule students who speak Spanish in schools or supermarket employees who serve customers in Spanish. Many parents of Hispanic origin try to make their children forget Spanish and have English as their only language,” he lamented.
“Very happy” for the 2024-2025 academic year
Regarding the data of the current course, García Montero highlighted that they are “very remarkable”, after registering 170,102 registrationswhich represents an increase of 6.67% compared to the previous year. The number of courses rose to 17,599, with attendance gradually increasing.
The budget of the Cervantes Institute for 2025 amounts to 143,189,950 euros, of which 43.5% corresponds to self-financing and 56.5% to state transfers. Likewise, the director highlighted the “possibility of expansion” of the institution outside of Spain, with a presence in 103 cities in 52 countries and 219 accredited centers, 37 of which are outside Spanish territory.
“The results make us very happy because the number of registrations and certificates has increased,” said García Montero, who, according to Servimedia, declared himself “very proud” of the data obtained in the 2024-2025 academic year.
For her part, the general secretary of the Cervantes Institute, Carmen Nogueras, stressed that the “yield” of the institution’s activity is “very good”, although she regretted the lack of growth derived from the absence of new general state budgets. “It’s not the ideal situation,” he concluded.
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