The Governing Council approves the new decree to regulate Emergency Social Aid (AES, by its acronym in Spanish)

The new decree to regulate Social Emergency Aid (AES) was approved at today's Governing Council. This aid is a non-periodic benefit, of a financial nature, intended for those persons in a cohabitation unit whose resources are insufficient to meet specific expenses, of an ordinary or extraordinary nature, necessary to prevent, avoid or mitigate situations of social exclusion.

Among the novelties included in the new decree are the change in the financing of the payment to local councils, which guarantees that municipalities can begin to grant Social Emergency Aid (AES) from the beginning of the year; in addition, the AES for rent will be granted to a maximum of two cohabitation units per dwelling, and the economic amount foreseen for the payment of this aid in the year 2026 is 41,500,000 euros.

Basque Strategy 2030 on Youth

The Governing Council has given the green light to the Basque Strategy 2030 on Youth, the reference framework that will guide the planning and coordination of public youth policies in the Basque Country in the coming years, in line with Act 2/2022 on Youth and with a comprehensive and cross-cutting approach.

The Regional Minister for Welfare, Youth and the Demographic Challenge, Nerea Melgosa, stressed that "youth is not only the future: it is the present. And to look after the present of young people is to strengthen the future of Euskadi, our social and community cohesion, the values of our Basque Country".

The Strategy is configured as a regional strategic planning instrument: it does not replace sectoral plans, but rather aligns, coordinates and sets guidelines for all administrations and departments to incorporate shared objectives. Furthermore, the document incorporates a cross-cutting gender perspective and an intersectionality approach, and is built in confluence with European frameworks and the EU Youth Strategy.

New Innovation Centres for Learning and Inclusive Development

Likewise, the decrees for the creation of the Innovation Centre for Learning, HeziLab, and the Centre for the Development of Inclusion, Coexistence and Diversity Management, BiziLab, two new support services for the educational system that consolidate a new stage in the accompaniment of educational centres in the Basque Country, have been approved.

With this decision, the Basque Government updates and reinforces the model of educational support services, adapting it to an increasingly diverse and demanding educational reality that is in constant pedagogical, social and technological transformation, in coherence with Act17/2023 on Education.

The creation of HeziLab and BiziLab means a reorganisation and specialisation of the functions that until now were carried out by the Berritzegunes —both regional and central— and the Ingurugela service, configuring a clearer, more complementary and efficient model.

As the Regional Minister of Education, Begoña Pedrosa, pointed out, "the aim is to strengthen the quality of education, providing schools with more specialised support, in line with current challenges".

Convention on the Detection and Counteraction of Unmanned Aircraft Systems

The Governing Council has approved a collaboration agreement between the Department of Security and the company Petronor on security matters for the detection and neutralisation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in buildings, headquarters and infrastructures of common interest. The agreement will be in force for four years, extendable for a further four years, and the actions carried out in this area will be supervised by a Monitoring Commission.

As explained by spokeswoman Maria Ubarretxena, "Petronor will install UAS detection and neutralisation systems in those places it needs to protect, covering the costs of acquisition and maintenance, as well as ensuring that these systems remain operational 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It will also provide the necessary security personnel to facilitate the operation of the system. For its part, the Security Department undertakes to integrate the data provided by Petronor's system into its information systems".

Agreement between Osalan and EHU to reinforce training in equality

The Governing Council has authorised the extension for four years of the collaboration agreement between Osalan - Basque Institute for Health and Safety at Work and EHU to continue developing a programme of external academic internships for students of the master's degree in "Equality of Women and Men: Agents of Equality".

This agreement allows master's degree students to carry out their curricular academic internships at Osalan's premises, within the framework of the current regulations governing external internships. The aim is to enable students to complement their theoretical training with practical experience linked to equality, job security and professional intervention in institutional settings.

Personalised itineraries of social and labour integration for persons deprived of their liberty

Finally, the Department of Justice and Human Rights reported on a new agreement with the "la Caixa" Foundation that will allow 155 people deprived of their liberty to access personalised itineraries for social and employment integration. As a novelty, the collaboration between the Basque Social Reinsertion Agency - Aukerak and the aforementioned foundation is going to be extended to Gipuzkoa, after the successful experience carried out in recent years in the penitentiary centres of Araba and Bizkaia. Since its launch in 2021, this programme has achieved the reintegration into employment of 76% of its participants.

This initiative is developed through the 'Reincorpora' programme, in which participants receive personalised itineraries that accompany them in their transition to the labour market. They include accompaniment, training, community service project, employment guidance, intermediation and follow-up, with a minimum duration of six months. To this end, the “la Caixa” Foundation will allocate a total of 292,000 euros to finance a programme that will be carried out throughout the year.