On Thursday, the government presented the autumn budget. There it is clear that the Sami language center will lose the extra grant of five million kroner that it has had in recent years.
– We have received notice from the government that the extra grant for the promotion of minority languages, which we have had for three years, is being withdrawn. We are now returning to our regular budget of six million kroner and will immediately begin an organizational review of the Language Center’s operations, says Anita Kitok, the Sami Parliament’s head of language to SVT Sápmi.
Does that literally mean cutbacks?
– In plain language, this means that we will adapt to the budget we have.
Will distribute 8.5 million
At the same time that the government withdraws the extra money, a lump sum of SEK 8.5 million will be set aside in the culture budget for the country’s two centers for minority languages.
The money will be shared between the Sami Language Center and the Institute for Language and Folklore, Isof, which handles the other minority languages (Finnish, Yiddish, Meänkieli and Romani).
– So we don’t know how much of the 8.5 million will go to the Sami Language Centre. We will only know that when the regulatory letter arrives in December, says Anita Kitok.
The text is updated