Government calls for tougher rules on company relocations

The spokesperson of the Basque Government and Minister for Culture and Language Policy, Bingen Zupiria, appeared at the usual press conference after the Governing Council, together with the Second Vice-Lehendakari and Minister for Labour and Employment, Idoia Mendia, who presented the Basque Employment Bill, approved today by the Governing Council. 

The Government spokesman announced that the Governing Council has today expressed its support for taking into consideration the bill presented by EH Bildu, which proposes that companies that relocate after receiving public funds should be obliged to repay all the aid received over the last ten years. Although there is sufficient regulation for these cases, the government considers, according to Bingen Zupiria, that it would be appropriate for the parliamentary processing of the draft law regulating the subsidy system that the Basque Executive plans to approve shortly to be harmonised and processed jointly with this bill presented by EH Bildu, in the event that it is taken into consideration by the Basque Parliament.

AGREEMENTS OF THE GOVERNING COUNCIL

As usual, the spokesperson, Bingen Zupiria, provided information on other issues discussed in the Governing Council, including the following:

On the one hand, the Action Programme 2023-2026 of the ADOS Advisory Commission for  collaboration with the Islamic communities of the Basque Country was presented to the Governing Council. As Zupiria explained, this is the second document of these characteristics to be launched, and the first of these already envisaged the creation of an Advisory Commission for Collaboration with Islamic Communities (ADOS), which has been representing a space for interdepartmental, inter-institutional and social collaboration with this reality. This new Action Programme until 2026 seeks, among other objectives, to consolidate the task of the ADOS Commission as a space for dialogue and assessment where the concerns, worries and demands of Basque citizens belonging to the Muslim community can be addressed, within a framework of respect for diversity and equal rights and duties.

In the field of education, the Government has today approved an Order related to Vocational Training for the academic year 2023-2024 with which it calls for innovation and entrepreneurship projects to be carried out in state-subsidised centres that offer training cycles. The purpose of the call is the total or partial release of teachers from Vocational Training centres for applied innovation and the implementation of entrepreneurship projects, with an economic endowment of almost 800,000 euros, in order to transfer the knowledge received to students, among other areas, in advanced manufacturing; Digital and connected factory; Energy efficiency and generation of clean energy; Biosciences and Biotechnology; Sustainable economy; Virtual environments; Health 4.0, etc. “The Government is well aware that Vocational Training is an essential travelling companion for companies in the development of new professional profiles and in improving the training and specialisation of students”, said the minister. 

In addition, the spokesperson reported that the Governing Council has today validated an agreement to be signed soon between the Department of Equality, Justice and Social Policies and the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa with the aim of boosting, evaluating and disseminating local ecosystems of care, which offer personalised attention, at a local level, to the most vulnerable people, especially the elderly. According to Bingen Zupiria, these ecosystems are structured around the continuity of care in the home and in residential centres and are personalised in order to relate the needs and priorities of people with services and agents; “i.e. care and attention are based on the principle of proximity, which involves activating a multilevel governance strategy, linking the municipal, regional and autonomous community levels and actively involving families and the community itself in care and in the design of care networks for users,” she added. 

Finally, as approved today by the Government, the Department of Culture and Linguistic Policy will support the digitisation of private archives with 157,000 euros. These are subsidies for the organisation, digitisation and dissemination of non-public archives and may be awarded to natural or legal persons who are holders of documents and archival collections but are not of a public nature.