The Governing Council approves the decree declaring bertsolaritza an Intangible Cultural Asset of Special Protection

• The Government Spokesperson, Bingen Zupiria, highlighted that this declaration “will boost the protection and transmission of bertsolaritza”
• The declaration will come into force after the publication of the decree in the Official Gazette of the Basque Country and in the official gazettes of the three Historical Territories, and stems from the request made in 2020 by Euskal Herriko Bertsozale Elkartea.

The Government Spokesperson, Bingen Zupiria, held the usual press conference at midday today in which he gave an account of the agreements adopted by the Governing Council held this morning. Among them, the approval of the decree through which bertsolaritza is declared an Intangible Cultural Asset of Special Protection stood out.

This decision, which makes bertsolaritza the first element to receive this denomination in the Basque Country, concludes the process initiated in October 2023 by the Department of Culture and Language Policy. The Government Spokesperson, Bingen Zupiria, stressed that ‘bertsolaritza is a living expression that the community has been able to transmit, conserve and recognise from generation to generation’, and added that this declaration ‘will serve to promote the protection and transmission of bertsolaritza’.

OTHER AGREEMENTS ADOPTED BY THE GOVERNING COUNCIL

The Government Spokesman also highlighted the authorisation of the signing of a collaboration agreement with Eudel to make the NIK Patrika Digitala mobile application available to local councils. A digital tool which, he stated, “allows all the cards from the different administrations to be available on your phone in a standardised way”. The application has been downloaded more than 250,000 times and, following the signing of the agreement, local councils will be able to join it after agreeing to it in their corresponding plenary sessions.

Zupiria also reported that the Governing Council has given the green light to the signing, by the Department of Territorial Planning, Housing and Transport, of a collaboration agreement with the Bizkaia Transport Consortium for the granting of a direct grant of 151,000 euros in order to facilitate the use of Mugi cards for road, cable car and maritime transport in this province as part of the Barik system. With this grant, the Bizkaia Transport Consortium will have to make the necessary adaptations to the equipment and developments in the cancellation machines and operating systems by the end of the current financial year. This agreement is in addition to the one in force since November 2022 to promote interoperability with the Bat card, and is part of the progressive integration of transport services being developed by the Basque Government.

On the other hand, in the area of Justice, the Government has approved an agreement with the three Basque Bar Associations for guidance and legal assistance in prisons for people who are inmates in maximum security and standard regimes in the penitentiary centres of the Basque Country. According to Zupiria, the agreement ‘will last for the next four years and will have a budget of 343,000 euros for 2024, which is substantially more than last year's figure of 160,000 euros’. The Prison Assistance Service has been active in the Basque Country since 1987.