On 10 June 2025, the Ararteko-Ombudsman of the Basque Country, Manuel Lezertua, officially announced to the Parliament of the Basque Country his decision to step down after ten years in office. The current Deputy Ombudsman, Inés Ibañez de Maeztu, will remain as interim Ombudsman until the Basque Parliament appoints the new Ombudsman. 

As Ararteko, Manuel Lezertua defended the role of the Ombudsman as the leading figure for the protection of citizen’s rights in the Basque Country in the eyes of both the citizens and the administration. Moreover, he increased the Ombuds institution’s engagement at the European and international level and led the process for institutional reform of the Ararteko, which aims to strengthen the institution and to bring it into line with the latest international standards and best practices.

• More than 450 activities at the European Parliament and in the EYE Village

• Debates with MEPs on climate justice, skills for the future, media freedom, and the EU’s next long-term budget, among many other topics

• Press briefing on media freedom in the EU on Friday 13 June at 16:30

On 13 and 14 June in Strasbourg, around 8,500 16 to 30-year-olds from all over the world will take part in a series of activities centred on the future of Europe.

EYE2025 (European Youth Event) will be opened by Parliament Vice-president Sabine Verheyen (EPP, DE) on Friday 13 June at 10:00 in the EYE village. Vice-president Nicolae Ştefănuță (Greens/EFA, RO) will take part in a session dedicated to the next long-term budget, on Saturday at 15:00. The closing session, with Vice-president Pina Picierno (S&D, IT), will take place on Saturday at 16:45.

Over the two days, there will be panel discussions with MEPs and other EU decision-makers, as well as with experts, activists and content creators. Debates between MEPs and the young participants will cover climate justice, skills for the future, the EU’s next long-term budget, and freedom of speech and media, among many other topics.

Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport Glenn Micallef will lead a Youth Policy Dialogue on Friday at 11:00, and take part in a panel discussion on young people’s mental health that afternoon. Executive Vice-President of the Commission, Henna Virkkunen will join in a conversation on how technology can strengthen democracy, on Friday at 15:00.

Other guest speakers are democracy activist Daria Navalnya, the Kayapo Amazonian tribal leader Chief Tau Metuktire and the Mayor of Strasbourg Jeanne Barseghian.

The programme also includes workshops on a wide range of issues that concern young people, from disinformation to housing and migration. Quizzes, tours, artistic performances, storytelling workshops and concerts are other options among more than 450 activities organised for the sixth edition of EYE.

All sessions in the hemicycle will be streamed live on the EYE2025 Facebook page and via Parliament’s Multimedia Centre. More details about the schedule, speakers and activities are available on the European Youth Event website.

Press briefing

On Friday 13 June at 16:30, there will be a press briefing with Vice-president Verheyen on media freedom in the EU, in the Daphne Caruana Galizia press conference room. You can follow it live here.

• Plus de 450 activités au Parlement européen à Strasbourg et dans le village EYE

• Des débats avec les députés consacrés notamment à la justice climatique, aux compétences pour l'avenir, à la liberté de la presse et au prochain budget à long terme de l'UE

• Un briefing pour les journalistes consacré à la liberté de la presse dans l’UE le vendredi 13 juin à 16h30

Les 13 et 14 juin à Strasbourg, environ 8 500 jeunes de 16 à 30 ans, venus du monde entier, participeront à une série d'activités centrées sur l'avenir de l'Europe.

La Rencontre des jeunes européens 2025 (EYE2025) sera ouverte par Sabine Verheyen (PPE, DE) vice-présidente du Parlement, le vendredi 13 juin à 10 heures dans le village de la rencontre EYE à Strasbourg. La séance de clôture, avec la vice-présidente du Parlement Pina Picierno (S&D, IT), aura lieu samedi à 16h45, dans l’hémicycle.

Au cours des deux jours, des tables rondes seront organisées avec les députés et d’autres décideurs européens, ainsi qu’avec des experts, des militants et des créateurs de contenu. Les députés débattront avec les jeunes participants de justice climatique, des compétences pour l'avenir, de la liberté d'expression et de la presse, ainsi que du prochain budget à long terme de l'UE, parmi d’autres sujets.

Glenn Micallef, commissaire chargé de l'équité intergénérationnelle, de la jeunesse, de la culture et du sport, mènera un dialogue consacré à la politique envers la jeunesse vendredi à 11 heures et participera à une table ronde sur la santé mentale des jeunes dans l’après-midi. Henna Virkkunen, commissaire chargée de la souveraineté technologique, de la sécurité et de la démocratie, participera vendredi à 15 heures à un échange sur la manière dont la technologie peut contribuer à renforcer la démocratie.

Parmi les autres intervenants invités figurent notamment Daria Navalnaïa, militante russe pro-démocratie, le chef tribal amazonien Kayapo Tau Metuktire, et la maire de la ville de Strasbourg Jeanne Barseghian.

Le programme comprend également des ateliers sur un large éventail de questions concernant les jeunes, comme la désinformation, le logement ou les questions liées à la migration. Des quiz, des visites, des performances artistiques, des ateliers sur le storytelling et des concerts sont prévus, parmi les plus de 450 activités organisées pour cette sixième édition de la rencontre.

Les séances organisées dans l’hémicycle peuvent être suivies en direct sur la page Facebook EYE2025 et via le site internet du centre multimédia du Parlement européen.

Plus de détails sur le programme, les orateurs et les activités prévues sont disponibles sur le site internet de EYE2025.
 

Conférence de presse

La vice-présidente du Parlement Sabine Verheyen donnera une conférence de presse consacrée à la liberté de la presse dans l’UE dans la salle de conférence de presse Daphne Caruana Galizia, le vendredi 13 juin à 16h30. Vous pouvez la suivre en direct ici.

Councils need to consider families’ individual circumstances when offering transport solutions for teenagers (16+) with Special Educational Needs to get them to school or college, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has said.

The message comes after the Ombudsman investigated three complaints about the way Derby City Council failed to consider people’s circumstances when offering personal transport budgets (financial payments based on mileage) – when the families said the only viable option was a taxi or minibus.

In all three cases, the council had decided it was necessary for it to provide support because the young people’s needs met the criteria set out in its own policy. But the council did not then check whether the solution offered did the job of actually getting the young people to their school or college.

The parents were expected to get their teenagers to school using the allowance but, where this left a shortfall in the full cost of their transport, the council failed to consider if this was affordable for each family.

In one case a mother gave up work to drive her child to school because the amount offered by the council was not enough to cover the cost of the taxi she considered was necessary, which would have been £80 per day.

In another case, a mother said she and her partner were already using their own cars to get their other three children, who all had special educational needs, to their schools. She said a taxi was the only way to get her older child to school, but the budget offered by the council was too low to fund this. The family’s only option was to drop off their child late and pick them up early, and the child missed out on vital special education provision set out in their Education, Health and Care Plan.

In the third case, a mother was offered an allowance even though she did not drive. The mother had to arrange a shared taxi with another family at a cost of £144 per day. The budget she was offered was £4,240 per year, a shortfall of more than £11,800 per year.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, Ms Amerdeep Somal said:

“Councils must demonstrate they have considered the options offered to individual families, who are entitled to transport support, that actually provide a practical, safe and affordable solution to allow them to attend. They should not be given a simple ‘one size fits all’ blanket offer.

“Derby City Council has now accepted my recommendations to improve its service, including revising its policy. I hope this will mean it properly considers families’ applications in future.”

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman remedies injustice and shares learning from investigations to help improve public, and adult social care, services. In this case the council has agreed to apologise to the families concerned and provide the first family with £1,000 to acknowledge the time, trouble and distress of its faults. It will offer the second family £1,490 for the distress and time and trouble, plus a further amount to cover mileage expenses for 124 days attendance. It will also pay the family £1,600 to recognise the child’s missed school attendance. The third family will receive £150 to acknowledge the time, trouble and uncertainty caused by its failure to consider their application properly. In two of the three cases the council has already reversed its decision and agreed to provide a taxi.

The Ombudsman has the power to make recommendations to improve processes for the wider public. In this case the council has agreed to issue a notice on its website for all post-16 learners who applied for transport between April 2023 and July 2024 to contact the council if they consider their application was incorrectly assessed.

It will also ensure officers are aware of their duty to consider individual circumstances when looking at applications and record notes to show they have done so. It will also provide guidance to transport staff to proactively signpost parent carers to its social care department for needs assessments.

Inés Ibáñez de Maeztu Izaguirre, hasta ahora adjunta, será ararteko en funciones hasta que el Parlamento Vasco elija un nuevo titular

Manuel Lezertua Rodríguez ha presentado hoy a la Mesa del Parlamento Vasco su renuncia al cargo como ararteko de la Comunidad Autónoma Vasca, después de 10 años de mandato.

Natural de Bilbao, Lezertua es licenciado en Derecho y cursó un máster en leyes por la Universidad de Londres. Inició su carrera profesional como técnico en el Gobierno Vasco y posteriormente se trasladó a Estrasburgo para trabajar como letrado del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos. Ha sido también letrado del Constitucional. Fue jefe de la división de la lucha contra la criminalidad financiera del Consejo de Europa y asesor jurídico de dicho organismo.

Su propósito al frente de la institución ha sido consolidarla como referente en la defensa de los derechos humanos y las libertades ciudadanas y que, en el ámbito de las administraciones públicas vascas, la normativa se aplique con humanidad, interpretándola de acuerdo con las circunstancias de las personas, especialmente de las más vulnerables. 

Desde que asumiera el cargo, Lezertua realizó una apuesta firme, de corte estratégico, por dotar a la institución de una dimensión europea e internacional y por reforzar la interrelación del Ararteko con otros defensores de derechos y con organizaciones multilaterales europeas e internacionales de defensa de derechos humanos. 

Inés Ibáñez de Maeztu Izaguirre es licenciada en Geografía e Historia y tiene habilitación profesional como educadora social. 

Inició su trayectoria profesional con menores en el año 1985, realizando funciones de intervención pedagógica con menores de reforma tanto en el ámbito social como en centros de menores. Una etapa relevante para el avance legislativo y de las políticas públicas orientadas hacia el reconocimiento de los derechos de los menores en conflicto con la ley, impulsando y afianzando nuevos modelos intervención socioeducativa y diferenciando dos ámbitos: la reforma y la protección.

Como educadora social y mediadora formó parte de los primeros equipos técnicos que se diseñaron e integraron en los juzgados de menores de Euskadi.  Ha sido educadora-mediadora del equipo psicosocial judicial de Bilbao, educadora del equipo técnico del Juzgado de Menores de Vitoria-­Gasteiz y del Centro de Menores de Pontevedra. 

Ha sido directora de Derechos Humanos de Gobierno Vasco (2009-2013). En el año 2011 puso en marcha el Programa de Defensores y Defensoras de DDHH para la CAE, dirigido a personas activistas de los derechos humanos que estaban amenazadas por su activismo en defensa de los Derechos Humanos.

En marzo de 2021, Inés Ibáñez de Maeztu tomó posesión del cargo de adjunta al ararteko a propuesta de Manuel Lezertua. Tras la renuncia de éste, Inés Ibáñez de Maeztu asume el cargo de ararteko en funciones hasta que el Parlamento Vasco elija a un nuevo titular.