The Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, today highlighted the work of “many officials moving to citizens in towns with difficulties to move to carry out their procedures. They have made more than 100,000 files to make this public approach to citizens a reality, through the program ‘The Administration near you’ in rural areas.”

Torres, who opened the meeting of the Interministerial Commission for the Coordination of the Peripheral Administration of the State (CICAPE) in Zamora, referred to the strengthening of the Government’s delegations in the autonomous communities and cities, as a reference of the presence of the General Administration of the State in the territory, and highlighted the impulse to the coordination of emergencies throughout the territory, “after a complicated summer, for example, in Castilla y León, with great fires, and also a year of DANA, with many human and material losses. That is why we are promoting greater responses in terms of coordination in Civil Protection.”

The minister also referred to other issues that CICAPE is addressing today, such as the contributions of young people, through the Youth Council, as well as the Democratic Memory and 50 years of Spain in Freedom: “All the ministerial representatives and the government delegates stressed the importance of the defense of democracy and freedoms, the recognition of what was achieved after many years of totalitarianism and we transferred to the territories different acts within the 50 years of Spain in Freedom, acts of Democratic Memory and acts of recognition, to reach young people, to educational centers, and value the power of democracy, the value of being able to express opinions, the value of being able to love whoever we want, rights achieved but that were persecuted for many years, something that we cannot forget.”

Quality services for all citizens ‘live where they live’

Since 2018, one of the strategic objectives of the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory is the strengthening of the General Administration of the State in the territory, so that all citizens, “live where they live”, have access to quality services regardless of geographical location.

To that end, significant progress has been made in the services provided by government delegations. New innovative management models have been implemented to gain efficiency, taking advantage of the advantages of digitalization and unification of procedures, such as the Emergency Communication Center. Far-reaching structural changes have also been undertaken, such as the reorganization of border inspection services. Or ‘The Administration near you’, which the minister has reported, has been moved to traditionally forgotten areas and groups, with very satisfactory results.

The CICAPE brings together representatives of all ministerial departments with government delegates in autonomous communities and cities, to coordinate the policy developed by the government with the General State Administration (AGE) in the territory.