eLANKIDETZA to earmark 34 million euros for the development of populations in impoverished countries

• The Basque Government encourages the reporting of any case of sexual violence

The spokesperson of the Basque Government and Minister of Culture and Linguistic Policy, Bingen Zupiria, appeared at the usual press conference after the Governing Council, together with the Minister of Equality, Justice and Social Policies, Nerea Melgosa, who presented the call for grants for development cooperation projects that the Basque Government will announce through eLankidetza, the Basque Agency for Development Cooperation.

As explained by the Regional Minister for Social Policies, the allocation will amount to 34 million euros, two million euros more than last year, and will be used to subsidise Basque NGO projects that work together with local entities to combat inequalities and improve the living conditions of people in impoverished countries, as well as to bring Basque society closer to other realities that are sometimes distant to us.

In this regard, Melgosa clarified that eLankidetza will reserve 20% of the funds for projects carried out in sub-Saharan Africa and 10% of the funds will be reserved for women's empowerment projects. “Basque cooperation is a reflection of a society that shows solidarity and works in a network, together with institutions, NGOs, universities, City Councils and social activities both in the Basque Country and in other territories. This is one of the hallmarks of the solidarity work carried out in the Basque Country,” said the minister. 

Minister Nerea Melgosa concluded by stressing the belief that Basque cooperation must continue to contribute to the challenges of transformation and solidarity based on its experience and proximity.

AGGRESSION IN SPORT

Both the spokesperson and the minister for Equality have referred to an alleged sexual aggression against a minor by his coach, expressing their deepest condemnation of any aggression that may have occurred and stressing the importance of reporting any case of this nature, both to the justice service and to the Ertzaintza, so that it can be duly investigated and clarified. Bingen Zupiria, as head of the sports area, took the opportunity to point out that there is a programme called Zure Taldekoak Gara aimed at people who may have been victims of any sexual aggression or abuse in the field of sport in order to offer advice to these people. 

AGREEMENTS OF THE GOVERNING COUNCIL

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

On the one hand, the Governing Council has today approved to start the procedure for the granting, for the year 2023, of subsidies to the trade union organisations that are members of the trade union election committee and the territorial committees. As Zupiria explained, it is a matter of activating an allocation of 760,000 euros to be distributed among the ELA, LAB, CCOO and UGT trade unions, as participants in the different committees through which the trade union election processes held in the area are controlled and supervised.

At today’s Council meeting, various grants worth 800,000 euros were also approved to promote the social economy by means of business inter-cooperation and the participation and incorporation of members into companies. The main amount, 500,000 euros, is intended to promote the incorporation into social economy enterprises, basically worker cooperatives and worker-owned companies, of people who become worker-members.

In the field of education, the Government has approved an Order of subsidies aimed at subsidised vocational training centres with an economic amount of 2,622,720 euros. In the words of the minister Bingen Zupiria, this call for applications fully responds to the objective of adapting Vocational Training to the current and future needs of the productive sectors and to people's employability, in response to the ever-increasing need for qualification and specialisation in companies. And its purpose is to encourage the participation of the subsidised centres, financing the teaching staff to take part in the training activities.

Likewise, the Government has authorised the expenditure of 47 million euros for aid for the energy refurbishment of buildings and housing in the Basque Country, within the framework of the Next Generation EU Funds. The new amount has been raised by the Department of Territorial Planning, Housing and Transport, following the fulfilment of the rehabilitation targets set to date. The Basque Country was the first autonomous community to achieve this and the condition of having met the previous targets was essential for the release of the last 50% of the new funds obtained. These 47 million Next Generation EU funds for energy refurbishment are in addition to the 39 million made available by the Government in June 2022 through the order that establishes the bases and regulates the public call for these extraordinary energy refurbishment aids.

With regard to culture, the Council today approved subsidies to promote various initiatives, including, on the one hand, subsidies 350,000 euros for the promotion of music, performing arts, books, audiovisual and visual arts; and on the other hand,  aid for the development of fiction, animation and documentary projects, with an amount of 400,000 euros.

Finally, the Government has approved the programme to support the development of tourism projects that improve the attractiveness and quality of the Basque Country's destinations and that dynamise the tourism proposal or that contribute to distributing tourist flows throughout the territory. This programme is endowed with 1,800,000 euros and represents an increase of almost 400,000 euros over previous calls for proposals, which will make it possible to attend to more initiatives.