The Governing Council approves the draft law on subsidies that includes the gender perspective and facilitates access to aid by eliminating unnecessary administrative burdens

• The Basque Government and LaLiga formalise the placement, use and control of drone jamming systems in Basque Country football stadiums 

• The Government will appeal against the ruling which questions the fact that relations between the Basque Administration and the companies that provide school transport services must also be in Basque

The Spokesperson for the Basque Government and Minister for Culture and Language Policy, Bingen Zupiria, appeared at the usual press conference after the Governing Council, where he reported that the Government has today approved the Bill regulating the system of subsidies granted by the Public Administration of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, a legislative initiative that was already contemplated for the current Legislature and which seeks to promote the achievement of activities of public utility or social interest. The spokesperson explained that with this regulation, which is now being taken to Parliament for processing, a general legal framework is proposed and criteria are set out when awarding subsidies, such as, for example, the integration of the gender perspective in the project or activity to be subsidised, or the review of the applicant person or entity’s track record in the development of policies or actions aimed at equality between women and men.

SCHOOL TRANSPORT

Regarding a ruling related to the management of the school transport service, the spokesman announced that the Department of Public Governance and Self-Government and the Department of Culture and Language Policy have considered appealing the ruling that called into question the fact that relations between the Basque Administration and the companies providing the school transport service must also be in Basque. “This ruling did not call into question the linguistic model to be used between bus drivers, monitors and pupils. The contract established that the relationship between the Administration and the companies that were to provide this service should also be in Basque”, he pointed out. 

AGREEMENTS OF THE GOVERNING COUNCIL

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

The Governing Council has agreed to authorise the signing of a collaboration agreement between the Department of Security and the Professional Football League (LaLiga) to prevent malicious or reckless overflights by unmanned aircraft in and around football stadiums in the Basque Country. According to Zupiria, both the Basque Government and LaLiga are aware of the real danger these drones pose to public safety and consider it necessary to deploy systems for their detection and inhibition, under the direction, coordination and supervision of the Ertzaintza.

The Governing Council today approved that Lanbide should extend the programme of aid for maintaining employment in microenterprises by 2.4 million euros as a result of the high volume of applications received. This amount, linked to European funds, is in addition to the 12.9 million granted so far, and aims to help entrepreneurship and companies that have made investments for the green and digital transition.

At today’s Governing Council, the Department of Governance presented the Open Government Directorate's 2022 Balance Report, which concludes that the number of requests for access to public information by citizens has increased and that the right of access to public information and active publicity has improved. This is demonstrated, among others, by the data on visits to the Gardena transparency portal, as well as those provided by the website Legegunea, Open Data Basque Country, which offers open and reusable data, or the profile of the contracting party.

In relation to the Department of Culture and Language Policy, the minister presented a number of issues. On the one hand, he reported on the approval of two annual calls for subsidies for the promotion of audiovisual production (2,430,000 euros for feature films and short films) and 375,000 euros for the implementation or consolidation of archiving systems by local entities. On the other hand, he explained that in the financial year 2023 an investment of one million euros has been authorised through the Museo de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo de Bilbao, S.L. for the acquisition of art funds for the collection of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. According to Zupiria, the call for subsidies amounting to 340,000 euros for the creation and maintenance of guidance services in the field of physical activity in the 2023 financial year has also been approved. The call is part of the EU-funded Next Generation plan and aims to tackle the social problems caused by physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyles.

Finally, the Government has approved direct subsidies amounting to 5.5 million euros for the rehabilitation of 14 properties of cultural interest for tourist use along the St James’ Way. These actions are part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. The Basque Country will benefit from this aid to improve and conserve its historical and cultural heritage, thus promoting sustainable tourism and the economic recovery of its tourism sector after the impact of the pandemic.