Pedro Sánchez and Íñigo Urkullu meet at Moncloa Palace in climate of full institutional collaboration

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The President of the Government of Spain and the President of the Regional Government of the Basque Country agreed on the need to continue working jointly and in a constructive spirit to propitiate a scenario of dialogue and consensus that allows a joint response to be given to the major challenges of the current political times and tackle future challenges together.

At the meeting, focused on the evolution of the health situation of the pandemic, they also addressed other important questions, such as the development of self-rule in the Basque Country, the management of EU funding for the recovery and speeding up the institutional commitments taken on by both parties.

The President of the Government and the President of the Regional Government of the Basque Country closely analysed the recent spread of the pandemic and reaffirmed their interest in cooperating with maximum institutional loyalty and with full respect for the jurisdictional scope of the two tiers of government within the framework of a strategy of co-governance that places the fight against the coronavirus as the priority objective of both tiers of government.

Pedro Sánchez and Íñigo Urkullu agreed on the need to continue fostering the integral development of the Guernica Statute and self-rule in the Basque Country, with the commitment to boost the calendar of the planned transfers.

The President of the Government and the President of the Regional Government of the Basque Country also expressed their agreement on achieving the utmost degree of efficacy and implementation in the management of EU funding. In this regard, they agreed on the need to maintain dialogue between the two tiers of government while fostering the participation of private initiatives in the management of a strategy based on digitalisation, the ecological transition of the economy, social and territorial cohesion and an openly feminist perspective.

Lastly, the President of the Government conveyed to the President of the Regional Government of the Basque Country his commitment to speed things up, through each ministerial department, bilateral meetings with the corresponding departments of the Regional Government of the Basque Country, in order to continue making progress on resolving outstanding issues within the framework of the jurisdiction of each department.

Non official translation