- EITB Director-General Maite Iturbe appeared this Monday before the EITB Control Committee in the Basque Parliament at the request of Elkarrekin Podemos. Since last year he has given explanations on an issue that has not been clarified: What happened in 2017 with the money raised at the EITB Marathon against stroke?
The Department of Health of the Basque Government reported in September last year: In the EiTB Maratoia, the citizens put against the stroke part of the money raised, more than 100,000 euros, which would not be destined for this cause, but to cover the costs of performing the marathon.
Six months later, Maite Iturbe appeared before the plenary of the Basque Parliament to explain the case. After describing in detail the philosophy of EITB Maratoia and the work carried out within this campaign, he explained what EITB and BIOEF agreed to in the case of the 2017 campaign.
BIOEF is a foundation for promoting innovation in the health system of the Basque Country that should receive all the money raised from the pockets of the citizens, EITB announced in its campaign against stroke. And he did, as Iturbe explains: In addition to the €433,803.39 collected in 10 days of collection in December 2017, a bank that has not been determined by the Director-General of EITB contributed €3,800.
All these funds were raised by BIOEF, “I want to make that clear,” said Iturbe at his appearance on Monday.
More than EUR 146,000 to pay the campaign
But at the same time that money was introduced, EITB also charged BIOEF: According to Iturbe, the convention for the organisation of the marathon specifies that if the money raised exceeds EUR 242,000, of which EUR 121,000 corresponds to EITB as campaign expenses. To this amount must be added 21% VAT.
Iturbe, in his appearance on Monday, tried to give data to justify this charge: It says that the economic value of the advertising spaces that the campaign has had in the EITB media is over EUR 700,000 and the value of the working hours dedicated to the marathon by the EITB workers is over EUR 18,000.
Iturbe explained that EITB hires the service of a producer to perform the aforementioned telemaratón and that it was she who paid the said amount. Eukene Arana, a parliamentarian of Elkarrekin Podemos, asked whether such a campaign could not be organised with the means of public television. Iturbe replied no.