The Lehendakari, Imanol Pradales, has underlined that "competitiveness, productivity, entrepreneurship, lifelong learning" constitute "the engine of Euskadi" and has warned that, so that it "continues to be a country that works," it cannot "be content to live off rents." For this reason, he has called for applying "the utmost individual and collective self-demand" so that the country "keeps on running on steam."
Pradales delivered this message during the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Goierri campus of Mondragon Unibertsitatea, an event organized in Ordizia that also brought together the Minister of Education, Begoña Pedrosa, the General Representative of Gipuzkoa, Eider Mendoza, institutional representatives, mayors from the region, and members of the business community.
At the ceremony, alongside the Lehendakari, Adur Ezenarro, president of the Fundación Goierriko Herrien Ekintza, and Bixente Atxa, rector of Mondragon Unibertsitatea, took the floor. Later, Andrés Arizkorreta, president of CAF, Asier Lekuona, president of the Fundación GOILAN, and Carlos García Ruiz, general coordinator of Mondragon Goi Eskola Politeknikoa, analyzed the balance of these 25 years of joint work and the challenges that lie ahead for the coming years.
During his address, Pradales emphasized that the Goierri ecosystem "perfectly represents the model that both José María Arizmendiarrieta and Lehendakari Ibarretxe defended: sustainable human development." "Economic progress subordinated to social progress, compete and innovate with roots, prosper together, move forward together, without leaving anyone behind," he stated.
He added that "I always say that Gipuzkoa is a magnificent example of the model we want to strengthen in Euskadi, for its ability to bring together industry, innovation, and social cohesion. And Goierri is at the forefront, with an advanced industrial fabric, specialized, and with high added value. With companies, many of them small or medium-sized, leaders in their niche. Hidden champions."
Nevertheless, he insisted that, so that Euskadi "continues to be a country that works," it cannot "be content to live off rents," and for this reason he reiterated the need to "apply the utmost individual and collective self-demand."
In his opinion, "only in this way can we guarantee the future of our industry, facing challenges as complex as the ones we have: talent, generational renewal, decarbonization, digital transformation, scaling and diversification of SMEs, or integration through work".
Along these lines, the Lehendakari has highlighted the "effort" of the Basque Government with the launch of 19 transformative projects of the Industrial Plan, which mobilize close to 1,000 million in investment; the push for a new planning framework for the electricity grid for Euskadi; and the request for a regulatory highway to shorten by up to 75% the processing timelines for strategic projects, among other measures.