On February 15, the Basque Parliament approved the new Cooperation and Solidarity Law.
The PNV, EH Bildu, the PSE-EE, Elkarrekin Valencia-IU and the PP abandoned their disagreements and voted in favor of the law. Thus, following the Sustainable Development Goals approved by the United Nations, they invited Basque society to leave no one behind.
I want to highlight some new features of this law. Firstly, it establishes a new legal framework to strengthen inter-institutional collaboration – Basque Government, Provincial Councils and City Councils – and expands the scope to the University of the Basque Country and Eudel. And it represents some important advances in the coherence of development policies. In addition, it is more committed to transparency and accountability in cooperation policies. On the other hand, it incorporates approaches in favor of human rights, the environment, democratic principles and feminism. Likewise, it is committed to implementing tools and mechanisms to simplify and make administrative procedures more flexible. Likewise, it recognizes and reinforces the historical role of development NGOs.
According to data from the last twenty years, only 1.5% of foreign investment made from the Basque Country has moved to Africa. Regarding development cooperation, of the total funds contributed by the Basque public administration, the amount allocated to cooperation with Africa is 5 euros per person per year.
Therefore, to be part of the change we want to see in the world, we have to make more efforts to foster solidarity and mobilize society and its institutions. And, of course, in the budgets of public and private institutions, more money must be committed to the South, with the objective of allocating 0.7% of gross national income to official development aid.
Josu Urrutia Beristain
Director of Mundukide
President of the Basque NGO Coordinator
