The Lendakari, Imanol Pradales, and the President of the Government Pedro Sánchez closed this Wednesday, the Bilateral Permanent Cooperation Commission, the transfer to Euskadi of two skills, that of Coastal Planning and Management and Cinematography, which will come into effect on December 16 at the meeting of the Joint Transfer Commission.
In addition, Before the end of the year, four other subjects will be transferred to Euskadi: meteorology, maritime rescue, work authorizations for foreigners and the National Machinery Verification Center in Barakaldo. By 2025, around twenty transfers would be pending, including “the blockage which affects all of what we call Social security and economic regime”, as Pradales explained during a press conference, in which he announced that a schedule of all pending cases for next year had been approved.
Pradales and Sánchez chaired the Bilateral Commission for Permanent Cooperation, a coordination and cooperation body that was launched this Wednesday and whose aim The main objective is to supervise the negotiation of the powers that remain to be transferred to Euskadi. “It is the first time in history that a Lendakari and a president of the government (of Spain) meet within the framework of a bilateral cooperation commission,” underlined the president of the Basque Executive.
During this first meeting, the creation of the European Atlantic macroregion, of migration management and the official status of Basque in the EU by the European Council, among other issues.
In his subsequent intervention before the media, the Lehendakari explained that today the effective transfer of two new skills “very relevant for Euskadi”. The first is the organization and management of the coastline, and the second, the cinematographic audiovisual activity, the transfer of which will become effective on December 16 within the Joint Transfer Commission.
As for the coastal management and planning, stressed that this transfer means that, from now on, Euskadi will begin to manage and grant, where appropriate, or even sanction, among other things, authorizations in areas of transit easement and access to the sea for construction projects. urbanization, walks, cycle paths, etc. ., in addition to concessions for the construction of bridges, electrical or communication lines, piers, pontoons or fixed slipways.
Likewise, he stressed that this new competition will promote key infrastructure for the energy transition such as wind turbines or power linesnew fishing projects such as the bluefin tuna fattening cages currently being installed off the Basque coast in Getaria; or the seaward expansion of the natural network in the Jaizkibel region. “This will also allow us to be more agile, simplifying and reducing administrative procedures, since it will not be necessary to go through Madrid to obtain authorizations,” he stressed.
Climax of the Status of Gernika
At the same time, he clarified that the transfer of cinematographic activity from audiovisual represents “the last piece of the puzzle to be able to affirm that in terms of culture, the Gernika Status Yes, it’s over.”
Thanks to this competence, the Basque Government will manage, among other things, aid for the development and promotion of the production, distribution, exploitation and promotion of audiovisual in Basque, or the Fund for the Protection of cinematography in co-official languages, which is dedicated to encourage the production, distribution and exhibition of audiovisual works in Basque language. According to Imanol Pradales, cinema “is a growing sector in the Euskadi, dynamic, powerful”, and young people “are consuming more and more audiovisual content”. This new competition, he added, will strengthen the Basque strategy of the cinematographic and audiovisual sector, and will be able to “promote the creation of our own content”.
another block
Pradales also announced that new momentum has been given to the next block of transfers: meteorology, maritime rescue, work authorizations for foreigners and the National Machinery Verification Center of Barakaldo. “The two governments are already working on an agreement and are trying to close this first block before the end of this year.. We decided today to create a transversal subcommittee on this issue and its acceleration“, he said.
The Lendakari said they will be “demanding and self-demanding” to make the transfers happen. Imanol Pradales stressed that we must “update, expand and improve the political capacities” that Euskadi has today “to continue growing in well-being and improving the quality of life”. The Bilateral Cooperation Commission has established that by the end of this year, a first block of six transfers must materialize, two of which were closed today, with four pending for 2024.
In any case, he specified that the technical teams “have been working for months on these questions of meteorology, maritime rescue and work permit authorizations for foreigners”. “I think we are on the right track,” he said. Concerning the decision to activate a subcommittee to accelerate the pace of transfers, he clarified that it is not only a question of integrating the Ministry of Territorial Policy, but also other sectoral ministries, because “these are very diverse subjects”.
As has been highlighted, Pradales and Pedro Sánchez are committed to facilitating its materialization. “This is what we will focus on between now and the end of the year,” he assured. Even today, the calendar of all cases awaiting transfer to Euskadi since 2025 There would still be around twenty skills to transfer, “among others the block which affects the whole of what we call Social Security and the economic system of Social Security”.
Lendakari highlighted “the good tone” of today’s meeting, which “It was fruitful, intense” and in which he looked at “very specific issues, some of complex management such as immigration”. “But I think that, above all, there has been collaboration between the two parties to resolve these problems,” he said.
During the meeting, Imanol Pradales presented Pedro Sánchez with a document on initiatives to be developed in areas such as the promotion of the Atlantic Macroregion, migration and the official status of Basque in the EU. The State and the Basque governments have agreed “move decisively” to obtain the official status of Basque in the EU and, to this end, the Executive of Pedro Sánchez will study the creation of a working group with the European Commission, in which the Basque Executive will participate.
Likewise, they are committed to promoting the creation of the Atlantic macroregion and, for this purpose, Bilbao will host in 2025 a trilateral meeting between the EU secretaries of state of France, Spain and Portugal. Pradales, who claimed to have his own migration management capabilities to develop an “adequate strategy” on migration, expressed to Sánchez his concern about the “imbalances” generated in the reception of unaccompanied foreign minors and affirmed that “resources should be given to those who make the most effort. »
