- The delegate of the Government, Marisol Garmendia, recalls in the inauguration of the new subdelegate of the Government in Gipuzkoa that "it is our task and responsibility to normalize the presence of the Spanish State in our territory."
Noemí López, born in León 51 years ago and adopted in San Sebastian 24 years ago, took office this morning as the new deputy delegate of the Government of Spain in Gipuzkoa at an event held at the headquarters of the Subdelegation of Gipuzkoa in the presence of the delegate of the Government in the Basque Country, Marisol Garmendia, the deputy delegates of the Government in Álava and Bizkaia, Mar Dabán and Carlos García Buendía, and various authorities and representatives of Gipuzkoan society. Noemí López replaces Guillermo Echenique, head of the Government Subdelegation in Gipuzkoa for the last six years.
Training engineer, Noemí López is a member of the Higher Voluntary Technical Scale of Autonomous Bodies of the Ministry of Environment and has developed a long career in the management of the hydraulic public domain in coordination with municipalities and other public administrations of the Basque Country and Navarre, as well as different departments of the French Government. He has been a member of the flood crisis tables in the Basque Country.
In his speech, Noemí López proposed several challenges to carry out his mandate at the head of a Subdelegation “that still manages very important competences for Basque and Gipuzkoan citizens, from the National Institute of Social Security, to the services of foreigners or traffic.” She assumes that “we need to strengthen our technical teams of civil servants to offer the best service to Gipuzkoans. And I’m going to work on it as a civil servant, as a public servant.”
As the first woman sub-delegate of the Government in Gipuzkoa, Noemí López has claimed the role of women in society. “I believe deeply in equality between men and women and in the need for women, who make up more than 50% of the population, to occupy the leadership and command positions that correspond to us. Therefore, I would like to thank the Government of Spain and our President Pedro Sánchez for firmly betting on us, on women, and for defending equality, dignity and the fight against male violence.”
Bringing the Administration closer to the citizens is another of its main objectives. “Being a close and above all effective, efficient and resolute administration is an inalienable goal for me. We need to be able to bring digital administration closer to the citizenry. Because we are at the service of the Gipuzkoans and Gipuzkoans. It has been, it is and it will continue to be so in the future,” he said.
His attitude, as well as enthusiastic, will be dialoguing and collaborative with the ultimate aim of providing a better service to the citizens. “Sharing, dialogue, agreement and consensus is the best recipe to take forward projects and policies. In a world as turbulent and polarized as the one we live in, we need more than ever the collaboration between economic, social and cultural institutions and sectors. From the partisan trenches, the coexistence between different people and social progress and welfare is not built. Only through the defense of general interests and the common good, public services, social rights and cohesion, diversity and respect for plurality will we be able to continue progressing and advancing in Gipuzkoa,” he said.
For her part, the delegate of the Government, Marisol Garmendia, has transferred to the new subdelegate the spirit of what her new position entails. “As representatives of the Government of Spain that we are, as public servants and of the General Administration of the State, we have the task and responsibility of normalizing the presence of the Spanish State in our territory; presence, yes, normalized in all areas, including the Armed Forces and Security of the State; because, despite what some desire and fervently negotiate, the competences of the State will not disappear nor its presence and participation in services, responsibilities, projects and strategic infrastructures of interest and general utility of the State. It cannot and, I would say more, it must not disappear.”
Garmendia has welcomed Noemí López, praising his courage and his willingness. “We have found the person who, in these times of discrediting politics and populist polarization of society, has said yes to occupy a position of political and institutional relevance such as being the subdelegate of the Government of Spain in Gipuzkoa. Your decision, Noemí, speaks, with courage and determination, of your commitment to the government of progress that you represent; of your vocation of public service to the citizenry, as an official that you are and as a subdelegate that you are now also; of your commitment as a woman for the defense of gender equality and the leadership capacity that corresponds to us women on our own merits.”
Marisol Garmendia has also had words of recognition and gratitude to Guillermo Echenique, predecessor of Noemí López and deputy delegate of the Government in Gipuzkoa for the last six years. “A very Gipuzkoan from Gipuzkoa who has exercised his office and his responsibility from the discretion, understanding and agreement between different parties as better ways of solving problems and the always exquisite respect for the Constitution, the Armed Forces, the State Security Forces and the institutional framework of the Basque Country.”
He also recalled the benefits of the intermediation of the Government of Spain with local institutional, economic, social and cultural agents. “Our work of connection, of intermediation, of dialogue is key to continue growing in competitiveness, quality jobs, environmental sustainability and social cohesion. You have to know, and we have to say it and repeat it as many times as necessary, that the Government of Spain is contributing and accompanying decisively and decisively in these challenges the companies and the productive fabric of Gipuzkoa with more than 840 million euros from the Next Generation Funds. And not only to small, medium and large companies, but also to self-employed people, municipalities, communities of neighbors and the public educational network to create new nurseries, such as in San Sebastián, FP places or emergency centers for permanent care for women victims of male violence.”