The central and Basque governments yesterday closed one of the compromised points of the PNV-PSOE investiture agreement, a section subject to a very specific period for its compliance and designated as one of the litmus tests to test the will of the Executive of Pedro Sánchez. This is the transfer of the third competence that, according to what was signed, was to arrive within a period of three months: the reception phase of those immigrants who have already received international protection.
In this way, over the last five days the two Governments have closed the transfer of the three powers whose transfer was identified as a priority and had to be undertaken within three months from the signing of the agreement, signed on last 10 November (the deadline has been passed by just two weeks). This step serves to close the first chapter of the investiture pact, strengthens the relationship between PNV and PSOE, and, at least for the moment, protects the Jeltzales as priority partners in Madrid
Looking at Euskadi, furthermore, the PNV breathes to see that, unlike the last legislature, the Government is complying with what was agreed and, in the middle of the electoral period, the Basque nationalists claim the value of their seats in Madrid.
Taking into account this last competence, the transfer means that the Basque Government will manage and enable “access to the educational system, housing or the labor market” for migrants who are in Euskadi once they have received international protection.
This phase of autonomy for people who have accessed international protection status has a maximum duration of six months, and is linked to the support provided to them “in order to access training for employment, search for housing or access to insertion activities.” “These people are helped to carry out a complete itinerary of inclusion and integration into our society managed through the Department of Equality, Justice and Social Policies,” the Basque Government explains.
Previously, the Basque and Spanish Governments agreed last Friday on the transfer of the management of several suburban railway lines that were still managed by RENFE and the homologation of foreign university degrees to Euskadi.
As for the railway lines, the transfer affects the management of four commuter lines in Bizkaia and another line in Gipuzkoa. In addition, the possibility of establishing new commuter services in Araba and between Bilbao and Karrantza is considered.
Finally, the Basque Government will assume the powers in relation to the homologation or declaration of equivalence of university degrees of people who are registered in a municipality of the Basque Country. The approval means that they will have the same effects as state titles in order to enable qualified persons to practice the profession in question. This transfer is closely linked to the shortage of toilets, something that the Basque Government itself has recognized.
“It takes on special relevance in light of the need for professionals, especially in the health sector, who come to Euskadi and who could strengthen public services. The homologation grants the foreign degree the same effects of the Spanish degree to which it is homologated. Likewise, it will entail the possibility of exercising the regulated profession in question under the same conditions as the people who hold the Spanish titles that qualify them for such exercise,” they explain.
