Comprehensive Strategy Approved by the Governing Council to Bring the Economic Agreement Closer to Citizens

The Governing Council meeting held today has approved the Strategy for the dissemination, socialisation and internationalisation of the Economic Agreement, a plan aimed at strengthening public knowledge, citizen appreciation and the external projection of the principal instrument of Euskadi’s economic and financial self-government.

The Strategy is structured around four major areas of action:  dissemination, with the goal of improving knowledge and transparency of the system; socialisation and public opinion, through ongoing communication campaigns; internationalisation, to position the Economic Agreement as a successful case of fiscal autonomy in European and international forums; and the institutionalisation of these policies through the creation of a specific and permanent service within the Department of Treasury and Finance.

The Economic Agreement is the cornerstone of the Basque institutional system. Thanks to it, the provincial institutions manage, regulate and collect almost all taxes, with all Basque institutions assuming the full risk of tax collection and contributing to the State through the Quota for the powers that it retains. It is a unique model of fiscal federalism, recognised constitutionally and through case law, endorsed by the European Union, and which in 2028 will mark 150 years of historical continuity.

New Youth Justice Plan

Today, the Governing Council was also informed about the Sixth Youth Justice Plan, the main strategic framework for guaranteeing crime prevention, the rights of young offenders aged between 14 and 18, and their reintegration.

The Plan is based on the principles of inter-institutional coordination, transparency and accountability, personalised attention, prevention and reintegration and continuous evaluation. It also includes more than 30 actions structured around four strategic lines that continue and deepen the path begun in the previous plan.

The first strategic line focuses on preventing offending behaviour. The second centres on the integration of public policies. The third is aimed at improving the quality of intervention through evidence-based programmes, the review of protocols, adaptation to diverse profiles, and specialised training for professionals. The final line focuses on strengthening public responsibility and the management model.

Reinforcement in Reading and Mathematics in Primary Education

Another of the items approved by the Governing Council is the granting of direct subsidies to state-funded private non-university schools for their participation in the INDARTUZ measure, an extracurricular support programme aimed at improving reading and mathematics skills among Primary Education pupils.

The initiative, with funding of €906,327.73, will be carried out during the 2025-2026 academic year and aims to act directly to improve pupils’ results in two basic competencies essential for their academic and personal development: reading and mathematics.

One Million Euros for the Promotion of Professional Musical Activity

The Governing Council has approved the call for grants for professional musical activities for the 2026 financial year. The aim is to strengthen the music value chain within this professional sector, particularly research, training and performance, while preserving the stability of businesses and programming.

To this end, the Basque Government will allocate €1,000,000 to this grant scheme, which is divided into five different categories: sheet music publishing, music production, sector development, the Zuzen-Zuzenean circuit and music cycles. Interested parties will have a period of one month from the publication of this order in the Official Gazette of the Basque Country to submit applications.

Agreement with the Basque Institute of Criminology

The Governing Council has authorised the signing of a new collaboration agreement with the Basque Institute of Criminology for the development and improvement of knowledge in the fields of criminology, victimology, and objective and subjective security, as well as for training purposes.

The agreement will remain in force for four years, and the Department of Security will provide annual funding of €125,000 for the activities carried out by the Basque Institute of Criminology and included in the agreement authorised today by the Governing Council.

Reports on Access to Public Information and the Impact of Foundations and Public Benefit Associations

Lastly, the Department of Governance, Digital Administration and Self-Government has presented the 2025 review on access to public information and accountability within the General Administration of Euskadi and its public sector, as well as reports on the impact of foundations and public benefit associations in Euskadi.

The first of these reports states that in 2025 a total of 309 requests for access to public information were registered, and the average response time was reduced to 27.05 calendar days. In addition, Open Data Euskadi reached 14,860 datasets after incorporating information from the provincial councils and the city councils of the three capitals, which has strengthened its national and European profile.

In the second case, the reports on the impact of foundations and public benefit associations in Euskadi include data that help quantify and contextualise a reality very present in our society, with significant information on employment, economic activity, social return and citizen participation.

There are 686 registered foundations and more than 27,000 associations in Euskadi, which together generate around 22,500 jobs and contribute 1.1% of GDP. Foundations manage more than €1.7 billion in income, hold aggregate assets exceeding €8.3 billion, and allocate more than €1.3 billion to their social purposes, while public benefit associations manage close to €400 million per year.