Notes sobre l'activitat de foment: estat de la qüestió en la doctrina i consideracions sobre el seu règim jurídic. Foment i normalització lingüística

Resum

The concept of fosterage first appeared in governments during the Enlightenment era, but its meaning has changed over time. Nowadays, fosterage implies the aid or collaboration of the Administration to a third person and is always envisaged as having a public purpose or as being of general interest. Three common types of fosterage are the honorary type —posterior recognition of an action already undertaken—, the juridical type —privileges favouring certain individuals or groups of people—, and the economic type —to make public goods available to individuals (tax deductions, grants, subventions, etc.) The concept of subvention (nonreturnable donation of assets of a public entity to a beneficiary to finance a specific project), as well as its juridical nature are widely studied. The author considers and compares the opinions that different scholars of administrative law have about the subject. In addition to that, the relation between subventions and fundamental rights —specifically the principle of equality— is expounded. Courts have noticed the unconstitutionality of those subventions that violate such rights (unproportioned relation between the funds employed and the purported aim, etc). Finally, the author deals with the subject of fosterage as an ideal means towards linguistic normalization of the Catalan language. The constitutional and legal framework created towards this goal makes it possible for public institutions to adopt unequal, but also reasonable and objective, treatments that favour the Catalan language. The fosterage measures applied to the Catalan language must be rational and in proportion with the desired aim: to place both languages on the same level.