- In the words of Minister Azpiazu: “these are a firm commitment to guaranteeing and improving the quality of life in the Basque Country, boosting its economic development and job creation.”
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 meeting, together with the Minister of Economy and Finance, Pedro Azpiazu, and the Minister of Education, Jokin Bildarratz..
Draft Budget 2024
The Governing Council today approved the Budget Bill for the year 2024. As Azpiazu explained, the budgets are based on 4 pillars of the country: people, planet, prosperity and self-government. “€15,025.4 Mn , which represents an increase in the overall budget of €774.7 Mn, i.e. 5.4% more than last year,” explained the Minister.
In the words of Azpiazu “these pillars are a firm commitment to guarantee and improve the quality of life in the Basque Country, boost its economic development and job creation.” As the minister explained, the budget allocates €10,934 Mn to social policies, €653 Mn more than in 2023, and also includes a firm commitment to gender equality, which covers 19.2% of public policies, 2.2 points more than in 2023. The Department of Health will be the department with the biggest budget, €4,896.6 Mn, 79% of which corresponds to Osakidetza (Basque Health Department). Next, Education and Territorial Planning, Housing and Transportation are the departments with the highest budget growth. Public investment remains strong, exceeding €2,000 Mn (13.5% more than in 2023) and in R&D&I, with an increase of 6.5%, over €700 Mn. “The budget allocated to R&D&I has grown by 31% since 2021” he pointed out.
“In this context of global uncertainty, the budget becomes the support and guarantor of the maintenance and improvement of our public services, with a view to building a future committed to people, economic development, employment and care for our planet” said Azpiazu.
This Friday the Basque Government will register the Budget Bill in the Basque Parliament and ministers will appear in parliament from November 6 to 8 and the Government expects to approve the budget on December 22. Azpiazu said he will work to explore potential alliances: “I know it is not easy in an election year to gather support, but I am confident that we will all know how to rise to the occasion and the Basque Country will reflect what politics should be about,” he concluded.
Balance of the strike day in the public network
The Minister for Education, Jokin Bildarratz, has made a first assessment of the first assessment of the strike called for today by the unions ELA, STEILAS and CCOO in the public network in the press conference after the Governing Council. “So far we have information from 80% of the centres of the public network and in these centres, participation in the strike day among teachers stands at 22.2%,” explained Bildarratz.
AGREEMENTS OF THE GOVERNING COUNCIL
As usual, the spokesperson, Bingen Zupiria, provided information on other issues discussed in the Governing Council meeting.
First of all, he read the Institutional Declaration for the Day Against Climate Change, approved by the Governing Council.
And finally, the spokesman explained, in relation to the Department of Culture, that the Council today approved the declaration of Cultural Heritage of Special Protection, with the category of Monumental Complex, on the Basque section of the Basque-Navarre railway. This train line, is 140 km in length, and 110 km runs through our Community and the rest through Navarre. The decree approved today stresses that the Monumental Complex of the Basque-Navarre Railway is an exceptional heritage in the industrial heritage of the Basque Country and emphasises its cultural values; its historical, social, technological value and another peculiarity that is included in the Decree, the fact that this infrastructure was the longest metric track railway built in Spain in the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century.