30/11/2023
The 25th anniversary of the FIIAPP, the Spanish and European cooperation arm, was celebrated at an event in Brussels attended by representatives of European institutions, the Spanish administration and European cooperation
It is 25 years since the merger between the two foundations that led to the creation of the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Public Administration and Public Policy (FIIAPP) in 1998 with the mandate to contribute to the reform and modernisation of public administrations in favour of better public policies and services to citizens. Under this pretext, the FIIAPP celebrated its 25th anniversary in Brussels to highlight its role as a specialised actor in the Spanish and European cooperation system.
This event was aimed at European institutions involved in international cooperation (European Commission, the European External Action Service…), the Spanish administration present in Brussels (REPER, AECID Brussels) and European cooperation actors (cooperation agencies of Member States, European networks and representations of partner countries to the EU and multilateral organisations in Brussels).
The FIIAPP, as part of the Spanish public cooperation system, has been linked to the European Union, and to the implementation of its external action (cooperation, neighbourhood and enlargement policies) since its beginnings in 1998. Over the last twenty-five years, the European dimension of the FIIAPP has progressively gained importance. The management of the Twinning twinning programme, with a permanent presence as part of Spanish cooperation in Brussels since 2010, the obtaining of accreditation to manage delegated cooperation funds in 2011 (renewed in 2022), the entry into the European Practitioners’ Network in 2014 and its co-presidency in 2022-2023… Although the FIIAPP mainly mobilises Spanish public institutions, it has always done so with a European spirit and with the awareness of being part of something broader, of a European cooperation system.
In addition to the commemorative actions planned at national level, the 25th anniversary of the FIIAPP is a unique opportunity to reaffirm, ‘in a Brussels key’, the role of the FIIAPP and Spanish public institutions as a European cooperation actor and part of ‘Team Europe’. The current Spanish presidency of the EU is a key moment to recover the achievements and trajectory of European public cooperation, facilitated by the FIIAPP in more than 120 countries, and to highlight the value of the European model of cooperation around the distinctive values of the EU and its competitiveness.
The event looked at the past, also covering the present and future of public cooperation between institutions and, in general, of the emerging European cooperation system, framed in the lines of action of Spanish cooperation, and in the contribution of the FIIAPP to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Among the main topics addressed were security as an indispensable condition for sustainable, effective and lasting development, the processes of enlargement of the European Union, the triple transition (green, digital and social) or the term ‘Team Europe’, to symbolise the joint work of member states abroad.
The director of the FIIAPP, Anna Terrón, closed the event by thanking the European institutions, the FIIAPP team and all its partners and collaborators for 25 years of work, and expressed her desire to continue working together in the future.
