In its origins in the second half of the twentieth century, blaverism was a populist and heterogeneous movement, which grouped together regionalists and supporters of Valencian foral civil law.
but also promotes symbols of a distinct Valencian nationality: in this sense it can be described as a nationalist movement, although many of its early proponents were in fact latter-Francoists.
[12][13] Some observers warned as early as in 1976 that the transition to democracy, and particularly the economic problems of the time, could radicalize the conservative positions of a part of the right.
In terms of democratic politics, the party which most closely espoused the blaverist cause was the centre-right Unión de Centro Democrático (UCD), which was in power nationally (under Adolfo Suárez) but which trailed the socialists in Valencia and Alicante.
Manuel Broseta, another leading member of the UCD, published an influential essay "Paella and the Catalan Countries" a few months later, the first in a substantial series of anti-Catalanist articles to appear in the newspaper Las Provincias.
The Consell del País Valencià was established by Royal Decree on 17 March 1978 and held its first meeting at the Monastery of El Puig on 10 April.
A final compromise resulted in the name "Valencian Community": the Statute of Autonomy entered into force on 1 July 1982.
Blaverism's characteristic feature is its opposition to Catalan nationalism (named as "pancatalanism"), whether real, perceived or, according to their opponents, simply made up.
The Senyera in its simplest form—sometimes referred to as the quatribarrada—gained a certain (but not overwhelming) support in Valencianist circles, and was on view at the march in favour of autonomy of 9 October 1977.
The Statute of Benicàssim proposed a new design, but the UCD representative on the Constitutional Committee of the Congress of Deputies managed to impose an amendment making the flag of the autonomous community the same as that of the city of Valencia (for, 17; against, 16; abstention, 1) which includes the blue fringe (the Senyera Coronada).
The question of the name of the autonomous community was initially seen as fairly minor compared to the debates over the flag and the powers which would be granted to the Generalitat Valenciana.