The Water Agency has called for the selection to fill the position of Director of Planning and Works

Asier Lopez Etxebarria, general director of the Basque Water Agency / Agencia Vasca del Agua, has called for a selection process to fill the position of Director of Planning and Works through a resolution signed on October 23. The call was published in issue number 214 of the Official Gazette of the Basque Country on November 9, 2026, with official reference 2026/4718. This publication launches the application period and is a process to fill a high-ranking position within the organization’s technical structure.

Regime of professional public high-ranking officials

The resolution is based on Article 8 of Law 1/2006 of July 23, the Water Law: the organization’s positions will be filled by specifically contracted personnel and employees of the public administration of the Basque Autonomous Community, depending on the nature of the duties assigned to each position.

Decree 178/2023 of November 28, which approves the statutes of the Water Agency, specifies in Article 11.2 that personnel with the nature of professional public directors will be regulated according to Title III of Law 11/2022 of December 1, the Basque Public Employment Law, and the service relationship with the organization will be formalized according to the criteria of Article 39 of said law.

According to this law, appointment procedures for professional public directors must respond to the principles of merit, ability, and objectivity, and the suitability of the candidate must be assessed through a system for verifying professional competence. Furthermore, the process must necessarily be carried out via a public call.

Fifteen calendar day period and method of submission

The second section of the resolution establishes the application period: 15 calendar days, counting from the date the text was published in the official gazette. The submission must be made by electronic means, through the web page designated for the process, as specified by the resolution itself.

• Period: 15 calendar days, starting from the publication in the gazette.
• Processing site: The Qualis (qualisconsultores.es) website, following the one indicated in the process announcement.
• Information: The announcement is available on the Qualis site and on the Water Agency’s website (uragentzia.euskadi.eus).
• Appeal: An administrative appeal may be presented to the Councilor for Industry, Energy Transition and Sustainability, within a period of one month from the day following the publication.

The resolution itself does not contain a detailed description of the position’s duties, nor a list of evaluation criteria; the details of the process are gathered in the call announcement on the two aforementioned websites.

Nature of the Agency and 2026 budgets

The Water Agency is a public entity under private law, and Article 2.c).1.3 of Decree 410/2024 of December 3 attaches it to the Department of Industry, Energy Transition and Sustainability. Article 7 of Law 1/2006 assigns it the activities for the protection of the public water domain, specifically the granting of concessions and administrative permits, as well as the surveillance, inspection, and sanctioning of regulatory breaches.

Regarding this year’s process, the general director, through a resolution dated August 6 —published on August 14, with reference 2026/3613— ordered the publication of the change in the list of positions, after it was approved by the Administrative Council at the meeting on July 14. On October 14, however, resolution 2026/4260 called for the selection process to fill two general administrator positions, with a similar deadline and the same appeal process.

Impact

The Directorate of Planning and Works is one of the axes of the Water Agency’s technical structure, at the level where decisions related to water planning and works are made. This selection, based on merit and verification of competencies, strengthens the professionalization model for senior public officials within the organization and will have a direct impact on decisions regarding the management of the hydraulic domain.

Source: Official Gazette of the Basque Country, No. 214, November 9, 2026, Section I (official reference: 2026/4718).