In addition to looking downstream to order the role of the town halls and provincial councils and to review the channels to properly fit the role of the central government of Spain in our country, an even more important task is to promote the Europeanization of the Basque Country and the rationalization of the role of the Government of the Basque Country before the European Union.
In this line, it will be necessary to gradually reinforce, with greater aplomb, bilateral dialogue mechanisms in Europe aimed at obtaining a genuine presence in the European decision-making process on the part of the competent Basque institutions, in those issues that are their own and exclusive and that do not need the intermediation of other State authorities other than the Basque ones.
The European Union is the higher institutional sphere on which the regulation, orientation and dynamization of many of the powers whose management is held exclusively by the Basque Country and, in particular, the Basque Government, depend on. In Brussels, a good part of the issues that affect us are cooked up and, without knowing a good part of the work that is carried out in this area, the approach that has taken place to date seems to have more to do with functions of representation (Basque Office in Brussels ) that with functions of negotiation and participation in the configuration of European policies and in the decision-making process.
The presence of councilors and senior government officials in meetings with the corresponding European commissioners seems to me to be much more constant than it is or, at least, what is known. The vision for this of the Government advisers must be a European, international and global vision. They must know languages to facilitate communication with their European counterparts. They must lead teams that are not only accustomed to relations with agents outside the Basque world, but also willing to incorporate the European vector into their local policies.
It is not very well understood to draw up a Science and Technology Plan or a Plan to Fight Climate Change, which, after all, are the country’s commitments to these great challenges, without earning the full complicity of the respective people responsible for the Union or, at least, without them knowing first-hand what we are proposing here. That requires talking to them, contrasting the main issues, incorporating their suggestions. The same goes for other major challenges in our country that are no different from those facing Europe as a whole: ageing, health management, the educational model or industrial competitiveness, among many others.
All these suggestions that are outlined in these lines are nothing more than simple opinions based on intuitions and personal perceptions. They do not intend to convince anyone because surely there is no one who wants to be convinced. These are ideas that fly through my head, surely mediated to a large extent by my own idea of a federated country in Europe, but also deeply anchored in mere reason and simple efficiency.