Torres announces the elaboration of a Plan of Reinforcement 2024-2027, to improve the attention of the General Administration of the State in the territories

• With the plan, which will include an increase in public and material employees, the Government intends to transform and bring closer the AGE in the territories, where there are already 6,000 public employees and employees in more than 300 work centers • Government delegations and subdelegations resolve more than 1.2 million residence and work permits of foreigners, guarantee the quality of the products that enter our ports and airports or process renewable energy projects, which transform our productive fabric • The Minister values the program The Administration Near You after the fire in Valencia, where a team focused on resolving the procedures of the people affected: “We will move the teams of this program wherever a disaster occurs”

March 6, 2024.- The Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, has announced that his department will prepare a Plan to Strengthen the General Administration of the State (AGE) in the territory 2024-2027, “to guarantee the provision of public services and promote a transformation marked by a clear vocation of service to the citizens.”

Ángel Víctor Torres, who chaired today in Valencia the Inter-Ministerial Commission for the Coordination of the Peripheral Administration of the State (CICAPE), made up of government delegates and delegates in the autonomous communities and cities, and the under-secretaries and under-secretaries of the ministerial departments, expressed his solidarity with the citizens of Valencia and Villajoyosa, and with the families of the victims of the recent fires.

Torres, accompanied by the Secretary of State for Territorial Policy, Arcadi Spain, and the Secretary General for Territorial Cooperation, Miryam Álvarez, highlighted the importance of the coordination of the different territories in the face of emergencies, an issue highlighted by the Director General of Civil Protection, Virginia Barcones, who also participated in the meeting.

The minister mentioned the “favorable reception” that has had an instrument promoted by the ministry such as the program La Administración Cerca de Ti, thanks to which a team was dedicated exclusively to attend to people affected by the fire of Campanar, in Valencia, facilitating the execution of procedures such as the DNI or procedures with DGT, among others. After this experience, Torres advanced that, from now on, teams will be moved where necessary for the immediate attention of those affected by disasters.

The Minister has also highlighted the role of government delegations and sub-delegations that, among other services, resolve more than 1.2 million residence and work permits for foreigners, guarantee the products and food that enter our ports and airports - with the work of more than 600 veterinarians, pharmacists and agronomists - or process hundreds of renewable energy projects that are changing the productive fabric of the territories of our country: “Government delegations are the reflection of the General Administration of the State in the territory, guaranteeing social cohesion and facilitating equal opportunities for citizens.”

Reinforcement of the General State Administration in the territory

At CICAPE, the plan to strengthen the AGE in the territory 2024-2027 has been announced, which will be promoted by the Ministry of Territorial Policy and which will revolve around four axes:

• First axis: accessibility of citizens to the Administration, guaranteeing face-to-face care and taking advantage of new technologies to offer multichannel care and improve the provision of services with the digitalization of management. It is about combining technological advances, inclusion and closeness.
• Second axis: human resources management for an efficient management of public services and design of a new structure, with adequate human resources profiles and a management by objectives that allows employees to know their results and the link with their remuneration.
• Third axis: visibility of the AGE in the territory, from the reinforcement of the image of the Government Delegation, the coordination of the AGE in the territory and a commitment to transparency and accountability towards the citizens.
• Fourth axis: sustainability, in line with the sustainable development objectives of the 2030 Agenda, with large programs, such as energy efficiency of buildings and cars, waste reduction and paper consumption.

Strengthening the role of government delegates

Ángel Víctor Torres stressed the need to “strengthen the role of delegates as government representatives in the territory, a strategy that requires the commitment and complicity of all ministerial departments to ensure smooth coordination and communication.”

In this sense, CICAPE is activated as a reference space for ministries “to advance our Government’s commitment to offer citizens, throughout the territory, effective, accessible and visible public services,” he said.

The delegates are, in many territories, the only political presence of the Government of Spain and their role becomes especially important because they are the ones who transfer the public policies of the state to the citizens.

The minister has pledged to convene the CICAPE twice a year, to do so outside Madrid and to organize the permanent commissions necessary to address sectoral issues affecting more than one ministerial department.

Administration Data Near You

The CICAPE has known the balance of the Administration Plan near you, which brings public procedures and services closer to the localities with less than 8,000 inhabitants, where more than 8 million citizens reside, of which 2.5 million (30%) are over 60 years old.

In the last year, almost 4,000 information sessions have been held in the villages, through 1,400 displaced public employees and employees, with attention to more than 41,000 people and with up to 18,000 digital certificates and more than 15,000 permanent Cl@ve issued in the small municipalities.

Angel Víctor Torres defends this Plan, “a bet of the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory to which can be added the municipalities with less than 8,000 inhabitants who want it, to have closer to the Administration and get a better attention to citizens who have been forgotten”.

AGE action after fire in Campanar district

The Government declared yesterday an area seriously affected by a civil protection emergency areas affected by fires, floods and other phenomena in seven communities, among them, the building destroyed by fire in the Valencian neighborhood of Campanar.

The doorman of the building, Julián García, will be decorated for his "brave performance" and will receive medals to the Merit of Civil Protection members of the emergency services and security forces who worked "to the limit" during the fire of February 22, in which 10 people lost their lives.

From the Delegation of the Government in the Valencian Community and the Subdelegation of the Government in Valencia, the General Administration of the State provided immediate attention to those affected by the fire in the Campanar neighborhood:

• Collaboration with the different public administrations and consulates.
• A nuclear team of five members of the Aliens and Civil Protection Offices, supported by other public employees, for the necessary actions, mainly in the area of aliens, since many of those affected are not of Spanish nationality.
• Telephone numbers at the disposal of those affected by foreign nationality, to deal with requests for work permits, residence, renewal of previous applications, stay for studies, temporary and permanent family cards of EU citizens, residence procedures due to exceptional circumstances or information and advice.
• National Police: specific care device for those affected to provide documentation and care in a preferential manner.
• Provincial Traffic Headquarters: provision of the driver’s license and vehicle documentation through the mobile phone, accessing the electronic headquarters, and a telephone for the care of those affected, with preferential attention also in the offices.
• MUFACE: care for the management of affected mutualists, such as a health card, prescription stubs or provisional changes of address.

Care for unaccompanied migrant minors

Regarding the care of unaccompanied migrant minors, Ángel Víctor Torres referred to the celebration, on March 18, of an intersectoral commission with the autonomous communities, convened by the Minister of Inclusion, Migration and Social Security, Elma Saiz. In addition, he announced that an interministerial commission on migration, coordinated by the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, is scheduled to be held later.

The Minister has pointed out that various meetings have been held on this matter and that the legal services are assessing the proposal raised by the Government of the Canary Islands for the regulatory modification that would regulate the distribution of migrant minors between the different autonomous communities. “I hope that in this same month of March we will be able to count on the proposal of regulatory modification, but this requires two issues: first, we must find the most viable legal option; and second, it requires the commitment of the different political groups, since any change in the rule has to go through the General Courts,” said Torres.

Ángel Víctor Torres added that “Spain’s government effort is unquestionable. In 2023, 50 million euros were allocated to the Government of the Canary Islands for the management of unaccompanied migrant minors, as was done in 2022. In addition, two sectoral conferences have been held so that guardianship, custody and custody are equal in the rest of the communities,” he said. However, it considers that “the volume of displaced minors is very low, due to the difficulties with these bilateral agreements” and hopes to be “at the gates” of closing “a commitment by all political forces for the normative modification that allows a distribution with objective criteria” of these children and adolescents, with “an obligation on the part of the autonomous communities, together with the commitment of the Government of Spain”.