Currently there is an increasing awareness of the urgent need to preserve and maintain the environment if we want to protect our planet. Aspects as important as sustainable management of natural resources, fighting climate change, and shifting consumption and production patterns towards more sustainable models, are at the top of our list of political priorities today.

Since 1974 the United Nations has been inviting us each 5th June to celebrate World Environment Day. This celebration gives us a magnificent opportunity to raise awareness on the responsibility that individuals, companies and governments alike have when it comes to protecting and improving our environment. The theme selected for reflection in 2017 centres on connecting people to nature, and it encourages us to appreciate its beauty and realise how much we depend on it.

FIIAPP, a public-sector foundation, has been working on environmental issues and doing its small part in this area for quite some time. Since 1998, FIIAPP has been working at the service of public administrations, improving the institutional framework and the functioning of public systems in the countries where we work, through experience exchange projects between administrations.

This is exemplified by the project implemented in Macedonia through a Twinning project to build capacities at a central and local level in order to comply with Community legislation on the environment, and which included the participation of the Council of Environmental Affairs of the Regional Government of Galicia (Spain).

On other occasions the focus is regional, as in the Euroclima+ project, an initiative of the European Union aimed at fighting climate change and promoting knowledge transfer and exchange with the public administrations of 18 Latin American countries.

Other examples of FIIAPP’s work include aspects as varied as the reduction of energy use in several cities in Jordan where Syrian refugees live, within the framework of the Qudra project; electrical and electronic waste management in Ukraine, in which the Community of Valencia is participating; integrated management of water resources in Morocco, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment (MAPAMA); and adaptation of Georgia to European directives on pollution and industrial risks.

By Javier Sota, senior project officer in FIIAPP’s Economic Development and Environment department

Why do we celebrate Europe Day on 9 May?

In 1950, five years after the end of World War II, the countries of Europe still had not recovered from the consequences of the two world wars and feared the prospect of a third one. To avoid it, their governments reached the conclusion that the best option was to create an economic alliance around the main raw materials, coal and steel, which would make war improbable.
One of the first people to state this position was Robert Schuman, the French minister of foreign affairs. In 1950, he gave a speech that laid the groundwork for this union, which would later be called the ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community), the embryo of the current European Union. This speech given on 9 May 1950 is remembered as the Schuman Declaration, and it gave rise to the celebration of Europe Day.

European values in the work of FIIAPP

We at FIIAPP, as a foundation that manages European funds from the External Action Plan, join this celebration and embrace the motto of the European Union: “United in Diversity”.

FIIAPP’s Director of Management Systems and Procedures, Agustín Fernandez, stresses the importance of these European values in the work of the foundation: “in the 100 plus countries where FIIAPP works, we do not impose the will of Europe, nor does Europe wish to impose its policies or values. Europe is liberty. Rather it is the partner countries that Europe works with who want to learn about these values and these policies that have enabled such diverse countries to live in peace and harmony and with great economic and social prosperity. One of the purposes of FIIAPP is to disseminate the best practices of these European policies through the projects it manages.”

“Europe is diverse, it is large, it is different, and that enriches us. But it is also a Europe that shares a set of common values, and through FIIAPP and Spanish cooperation we encourage and work to defend these values that unite us and identify us as Europeans.

Europe Day activities

Over the course of the week, there is an extensive agenda of activities distributed by the member countries of the European Union and the different European institutions, with Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg being the key spots for these events. The different European institutions (European Parliament, European Commission, Court of Justice, Court of Auditors, etc.) celebrate open days in which citizens can visit the facilities and see how they operate first hand.

Today, 14th April, twenty-one countries in the Americas celebrate Pan American Day, a day that reaffirms the unity of the continent.
The first time this day was celebrated was in 1931 to commemorate the founding of the Union of American Republics, later renamed the Pan American Union, which in 1984 became what we know today as the Organization of American States, or OAS.

As stated in the Charter of the Organization of American States, the principles underlying this union are “to achieve an order of peace and justice, to promote their solidarity, to strengthen their collaboration, and to defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity, and their independence”.

Following these same principles, FIIAPP manages a wide variety of projects in the region which, from different fields, contribute to promoting peace, justice and overall cooperation in the region.

For this reason, at FIIAPP we are joining the celebration by taking a tour of some of the projects we are managing in the region:

Cuba-EU Expertise Exchange

This is a project funded by the European Union that aims to accompany the Cuban government in its commitment to reforming its socio-economic policies. An example of this is the reform of the country’s tax administration, which the Director General of Economy and Planning of Cuba, Alfredo Jam Masso, explains is an extremely important activity. A website has already been created which allows taxpayers to manage their accounts, fill in forms and even close their accounts without having to visit a specific office. This reform has already been implemented all across the island.

Fight against drug trafficking in Bolivia and Peru

European experts have travelled to these two countries to carry out a series of trainings with the national institutions dedicated to fighting drug trafficking and organised crime. These experts come from France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain, and have different professional profiles: police officers, judges, prosecutors and customs agents.

Both Peru and Bolivia, the beneficiary countries, and Europe contribute their experience in this field, which is of interest to both parties, thereby improving the policies and techniques currently being applied in the fight against drug trafficking.

These trainings within the anti-drug trafficking project, in both Bolivia and Peru, are aimed at police officers at different levels explains Feliz Murga, the director of the organised crime unit of the National Police of Peru:

“Both cadets and active-duty officers have received courses related to the fight against drugs, intelligence and investigation of drug trafficking, and those already involved in the fight against organised crime have received specialised courses and courses abroad, in the European Union”.

COPOLAD

This is another drug-related international cooperation project, but with a different focus. COPOLAD, aspires to improve the bi-regional dialogue between Latin America and the European Union on drug policy.
This dialogue is centred on four components: consolidation of cooperation mechanisms, creation of national drug observatories, implementation of measures for drug demand reduction, and trainings for experts on drug supply reduction.
COPOLAD director Teresa Salvador summarises the work in the project: “these are institutional strengthening activities intended to help the national drug observatories obtain reliable, high quality data and use them to assess the impact of measures being taken to address this problem”.

Other regional programmes

In addition to these, FIIAPP manages many other projects that operate at regional level: EUROCLIMA+, a programme focused on the adaptation to and mitigation of climate change; EUROsociAL+, a programme for social cohesion in Latin America; AMERIPOL, centred on improving the capacities of prosecutors and law enforcement and judicial authorities in the fight against organised crime.

In December 2010, in the centre of the Tunisian capital, a pivotal moment in the country’s recent history occurred. Near the city’s main square, Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year old street vendor of fruits and vegetables, was stopped by three municipal police officers and asked to pay a bribe whilst he was selling his goods. Mohamed refused and the police confiscated his produce and cart. That same afternoon he went to the governor’s office to demand that his property be returned but received no reply. So he decided to buy a can of gasoline and some matches and then lit himself on fire inside the municipal government headquarters.

Mohamed’s flames ignited the tensions of the Tunisian people, and the square filled with shouts of hope. Thousands of citizens took to the streets to demand the rights they had been denied under the regime of Ben Ali. After several weeks of citizen demonstrations, the party was dissolved.

Since then, Tunisia has been undergoing a democratic transition. In 2014 the constitution was ratified and the first free and democratic elections were held, in which Habib Essid of the Nida Tunes party was named prime minister.

European project to support the ministry of justice

The European Union applauded the advances of the Tunisian democratic transition and made a commitment to provide support throughout the process. One example of this commitment is the project to support the Tunisian Ministry of Justice, which began in 2015, is being funded through the European Neighbourhood Instrument and managed by the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP).

The aim of this project is to support the Tunisian judicial system in the democratic transition process and to define the structure of the Ministry of Justice and the General Council of the Judiciary.   The resident project manager in Tunisia, Ángel Llorente, describes the situation at the start of the project, “passing from an autocratic regime to a democratic system with liberties, it was necessary to change the most important laws because, in the Ministry of Justice, a series of competences previously converged that should be exercised by an independent judiciary empowered with autonomy and its own budget”.

Currently the project is at its mid-point. A first phase has already been completed involving a study to learn the prior situation and thereby identify the needs on which to base the design of future implementation of public policies. An advocate in the superior court of justice of Murcia and the project leader, Javier Parra, explained that one of the tangible achievements to date is the preparation of a five-year plan for the insertion of information technologies.

But the results of the project are not just relevant during the two and half years of its execution; it is hoped that these steps taken will be the motor of a much deeper change in the structure of Tunisian judicial bodies. One example of this is the five-year programme of objectives to be achieved in the next five years. The advisor to the Tunisian Ministry of Justice and head of the mission, Najet Ben Salah, explains that “we are committed to getting results; we have objectives that are already included in an overall action plan, and we hope that these results can be achieved in the next five years”.

The International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP) is a public-sector foundation governed by private law which manages Spanish public funds and those of the European Union. As such, it follows in-house legal instructions drawn up by the foundation itself. Consequently, the work of a legal department, which maintains strict supervision and control over any legal aspects that arise in the foundation’s daily work, is essential.

We talk to Sofía Herranz, the head of FIIAPP’s legal department since 1998 and one of its longest serving employees.

The legal department is one of the most cross-cutting areas of FIIAPP; that means that it works jointly and in coordination with all the other departments of the institution, or as Sofía puts it: “The relationship is direct and ongoing. We don’t all know everything, but between all of us we know a lot”.

The main job of the department is to “counsel the area directors and the project managers and officers when it comes to creating project technical sheets and talking to partners” in order to ensure the complete legality of the procedures.

Another task of the department is to manage all types of non-employment contracts, such as those related to procurement of services, supplies and technical assistance and the engagement of experts. As Sofia tells us, this is one of the aspects that generates the greatest number of questions: “how do I hire an expert; what is the procedure; what is the difference between an expert who is a civil servant and one who is a professional”.

FIIAPP, as it manages sizeable projects, often finds itself in the situation of having to sign very large-scale agreements and contracts that require certain very specific administrative, technical and legal conditions which must be completely in order.

As we explained earlier, FIIAPP has a particular status that differentiates it from other foundations: the funding is all public. Accordingly, Sofia confesses that “managing public funds is a very significant responsibility, so we have to be meticulous and exemplary”.

As Sofia tells us, another peculiarity of FIIAPP is that “it is governed by private law but belongs to the public sector, and so the foundation is subject to the oversight of various supervisory bodies, such as the General Intervention Board of the State Administration, the Court of Auditors, and to private audits that verify its processes and execution of the public funds being managed”.

Considering that the FIIAPP board is made up of members of the government, its support and institutional vision are present in the foundation’s daily work and in fulfilment of our legal obligations with respect to both the funds from the General State Budgets and the European Commission.

In 2015, during the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit held in New York, 193 countries approved the 2030 Agenda for global goals: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UN defines sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

These objectives expand the scope of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) signed in 2000 and involve more actors committed to eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities, and combating climate change.

The 17 SDGs set global targets ranging from eliminating poverty and hunger to reducing economic and gender inequalities, protecting the planet, conserving biodiversity, and ensuring universal access to basic services such as health and education. They also include the creation of partnerships and cooperation among countries to move together toward sustainable development.

The European Union’s Commitment to the SDGs
The European Union is committed to adopting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and integrating them into its legislation and political actions, prioritizing efforts across three fundamental pillars of development: economic, social, and environmental.

The EU also aims to create spaces for reflection on the long-term future of development and to extend the coherence of its policies beyond its borders, supporting third countries in building peaceful, stable, and resilient societies.

The European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, expressed this commitment as follows:
“My goal is to achieve genuine consensus, under the shared responsibility of EU institutions and Member States, that allows us to lead global action in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals.”

FIAP in the 2030 Agenda
The International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIAP), as a public institution managing international cooperation projects, works in line with the European Union’s foreign policy and the principles of the 2030 Agenda.

Its work focuses on modernizing public institutions in partner countries, contributing to the SDGs across various areas:

• Social policies and rights
  FIAP manages projects promoting access to basic social services such as health, education, and employment.
  The EUROsociAL program fosters social cohesion in Latin America through exchanges among experts in justice, governance, and public finance. It contributes particularly to SDGs 16 and 17.

• Economy and public finance
  Projects like the Modernization of Public Finances in Algeria strengthen fiscal systems, aligned with SDG 17.1.

• Infrastructure and transport
  FIAP supports initiatives such as the Improvement of Ukraine’s Railway System, which contributes to SDG 11.2 (access to safe, affordable, and sustainable transport systems).

• Green economy
  Aligned with the EU’s 2030 Energy and Climate Framework, projects like EUROCLIMA support climate change mitigation and adaptation, consistent with SDG 13.

• Security and the fight against organized crime
  FIAP carries out initiatives addressing irregular migration, human trafficking, and drug trafficking, such as the Support for Drug Legislation in Bolivia. This work contributes to SDG 16, targets 16.4 and 16.11.

• Justice and transparency
  The EUROMED Justice program promotes effective, democratic, and human-rights-based judicial systems in the Euro-Mediterranean region, in line with SDG 16.3.

Opinions expressed in this blog are the sole responsibility of the author.

Editorial note (updated October 2025):
This content, originally published in 2017, remains a key reference for understanding FIAP’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since then, the institution has continued promoting public sector reform, social cohesion, and the green transition in alignment with the 2030 Agenda and the European Global Gateway initiative.