The Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa is responsible for governing and administering the province of Gipuzkoa. Its President is elected by the General Assembly and is responsible for implementing the programme of the government, which is made up of provincial councillors appointed by the President. The General Assembly is the governing body of the Provincial Council and is responsible for setting the guidelines for and aims of the provincial government's actions.
The Provincial Council has recognised competences as a provincial institution, especially in the areas of finance, economic development, roads and social policies. The General Assembly is the highest public representative and participatory body in the province and takes the form of a parliamentary body consisting of 51 councillors elected by universal suffrage.
The General Council of Gipuzkoa was created in the 16th century. At that time, the Council was made up of procurators designated by the General Assemblies and the council of the municipality in which the Assemblies gathered. Nowadays, the General Assemblies and the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa are governed by the provisions of the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country and the Regional Provinces Act.
I was born in Beasain in 1965. I studied at the Ikastola in Beasain and at the Liceo Alkartasuna. Afterwards I studied for a degree in Philosophy at the University of the Basque Country, although, from a very early age, my professional commitments have been closer to the world of politics. As a result of this, I got involved in politics at the age of 15, when I joined the EGI organisation in Beasain, as since I was a teenager I have been deeply interested in public affairs, the promotion of Basque and the world of culture. Throughout all these years I have carried out various duties in the Basque Nationalist Party, and in the 2017-2011 legislative period I was the leader of Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, a post that I have once again held since the elections in May 2015 and in which for the next four years I will strive to work for a better Gipuzkoa.
Gipuzkoa is a creative, smart and competitive territory, which constantly strives to guarantee the sustainable generation of wealth, the wellbeing of its people and citizen coexistence. A territory whose driving force is, precisely, the strength and competitiveness of its industry.
The Institutional Integrity System of Gipuzkoa Provincial Council is delivered through a set of objectives, principles, procedures and guarantee institutions, along with assessment, accountability and transparency mechanisms, that seek to forge an integrity policy and the construction of an ethical infrastructure of the Provincial Administration overall, as well as of its provincial public sector.
The Provincial Council Building dominates one of the main enclaves in the 19th-century extension of the city. This rounded off the Plaza de Gipuzkoa, designed in 1867 by José Eleuterio Escoriaza in the neo-classical Isabelline style and embellished by the English-style gardens designed in 1877 by Pierre Ducasse.
The financing system of the Basque Country, by virtue of which the financial and tax relations between the Basque Country and the Spanish state are set up.