The fine print of the 2025 Basque budgets, submitted this Thursday to the Basque Parliament, show a first approximation of the increase in the structure of the Basque Administration after Imanol Pradales formed the largest government in democratic history in June, with sixteen portfolios compared to the twelve that Iñigo Urkullu left. The personnel appendix to the accounts shows a budgetary workforce of 480 senior civil servants and advisors, i.e. 10.85% more than the 433 freely appointed agents planned for the previous year.
In figures, in General Administration alone, this involves paying 27.4 million in payroll compared to 22.7 with the previous structure. This salary quantification does not take into account the scope made up of independent companies and organizations, which have 156 executive and temporary positions. In any case, these are increases of between 18% and 24%, according to the official documentation itself.
In figures, Euskadi will have a budgeted workforce of 82,904 public civil servants, compared to 80,293 in 2024. The number of civil servants increases from 69,751 to 72,580, who will benefit from a 2% salary increase next year. The Administration launches calls for jobs in different public services and, in addition, transfers from the State take place, such as Cercanías. In prisons, the current workforce is also increasing by 200 positions, for example. The volume of jobs increased from 10,109 to 9,844. Senior civil servants increased from 331 to 358 and advisors from 102 to 122.
Budget reports are just that, budgets. The precise definition of the structure is then carried out through decrees approved advisor by advisor. For the moment, only five of the sixteen councilors have already presented these decrees. The Minister of the Treasury, Noël d’Anjou, explained to journalists that only then will we have a precise quantification of the real cost of the increase in the executive. However, there were also additional expenses with the incorporation of four new Lexuses, as many as new directors, and the renovation of offices at the Lakua headquarters.
Open to pacts with EH Bildu, PP or Sumar
The delivery of the budgets to the Basque Parliament was made official not only by the Minister of Finance, as is tradition, but also by Pradales himself and by the highest representative of the socialists in the government coalition, Vice-President Mikel Torres. In fact, D’Anjou has been the only one not to speak to the media, since Pradales and Torres appeared… but without admitting any questions.
His argument is that these are social accounts – Torres said 72% of investments will be for social portfolios – and that it is an “effort by investors” to stimulate the economy. Pradales indicated that a parliamentary procedure is currently beginning which will allow the exploration of possible agreements with the opposition, even if numerically the Executive has an absolute majority. The Lehendakari only excluded Vox from these conversations and expressly cited EH Bildu, PP and Sumar as potential partners. It was not possible to clarify whether the PES-EE would agree to negotiate with the right, which it opposes in Spain.
The Lehendakari asked the groups to make “realistic” proposals. This was a veiled reference to the initiative already presented by EH Bildu to explore a “comprehensive” agreement for the Basque Government but also for Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa. Pradales has clearly cooled this proposal and even criticized the fact that the coalition wants new spending worth 1.5 billion euros, which represents 10% of the total planned budget.
