- The new delegate of the Government highlights that “the Government of Spain has much to do and say in the Basque Country, to continue promoting the progress and social and economic well-being of the Basque citizens”
- Garmendia takes office as the first woman at the head of the Government Delegation in the Basque Country before about 150 people representative of Basque society
Marisol Garmendia has today formally taken office as Government delegate in the Basque Country, following her appointment by the Council of Ministers on 13 December, in an act that brought together around 150 people representing the world of politics, business, culture, social services, associations of victims or the Basque language and in which she has been accompanied, in addition to her family, by the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, and the delegate of the outgoing Government, Denis Itxaso.
His speech has been strewn with declarations of intent on which he will base his career at the head of the Delegation. Thus, Garmendia has affirmed that one of its main efforts will be “to strengthen the democratic coexistence of the plural Euskadi in the diverse and constitutional Spain”.
First woman as government delegate
Garmendia thus becomes the first woman in history to hold this position in the Basque Country, an aspect that she wanted to highlight in her presentation speech. “I would like to thank Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez for the trust he has placed in me as a woman, as a politician, as a socialist Basque political woman, committed to defending the general interest and public service, with the democratic values of freedom, peace, progress and equality, progress in social rights, memory and reparation for the victims of terrorism, coexistence and respect between different people, between different Spaniards,” he said in his speech. A thank you that has extended to the outgoing delegate, Denis Itxaso, - “Thank you Denis for your words of support and affection and the advice you have given me. They are already serving me a lot”— to his party, the PSE-EE, to his companions and companions of the municipal socialist group in the City of San Sebastián, to his family, friends “and to all the people, many anonymous, who these days have transferred their affection to me and have approached me to congratulate me and wish me the best in this new stage”.
The new government delegate has also stressed the important role that the central government plays in the Basque Country. “The Government of Spain has much to do and say in the Basque Country, to continue promoting the economic development of Basque companies, new social and cultural achievements and the improvement of social welfare and the quality of life of Basque citizens,” he said.
The role of the Government in the Basque Country
The work facilitating her role as a government delegate has also been developed in her presentation. “The Government of Spain will continue to make available to Basque companies all the economic aid, European funds, public investments and the financial and relational instruments necessary to contribute, effectively, to the modernization of the Basque business fabric, to make small, medium and large industrial and service companies, cooperatives and the social economy of the Basque Country more innovative, competitive and prepared to face the multiple and changing challenges that await us in every corner of this global world and in fierce competition,” he said.
The government delegation in the Basque Country will continue to show itself to be an open, dialoguing and citizen-friendly institution. Marisol Garmendia wanted to make this clear in her presentation. “The doors of this government delegation, as well as those of the sub-delegations of Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, will remain open for Basque citizens, for all Basques and Basques, as public servants that we are. As a representative of the Government of Spain, I am ready to listen, to dialogue, to collaborate and to work from close proximity, to make available to Basque society, at your disposal, the important resources and projects shared with the regional institutional framework, the Basque Government, Provincial Councils, City Councils, as well as with the business, social and cultural fabric, which the Spanish Government allocates to the Basque Country and which many of you already know. Projects, such as connectivity and sustainable mobility infrastructures linked to rail transport, among others the TAV, which will represent a great advance for the economic growth and territorial and social structuring of the Basque Country and its connection with the rest of Spain and Europe”.