It’s time. Basque nationalism says it clearly. The weakness of Pedro Sánchez’s government and the complex arithmetic of the Congress of Deputies have opened a window of opportunity that the PNV called to take advantage this Sunday to advance the old objective of “national recognition” of the Basque Country. “We need to stop the politics and the partisanship. “Basque political actors coincide with the majority political actors in Madrid,” said Andoni Ortuzar, president of the executive body of the party, during the celebration of Alderdi Eguna 2024 (Party Day) in the fields of Foronda (Vitoria ).
An event that nationalists celebrate every last Sunday in September, but which this year had greater importance due to the internal renewal process they are facing and erosion of their electoral basewhich placed EH Bildu in a position of contesting for hegemony in the region. Ortuzar, worried about the weather, yesterday called on activists to fill the gigantic room where the event took place, attended by Junts per Catalonia spokesperson in Congress, Miriam Nogueras. Meteorology respected him for demanding a “new horizon of self-governance.”
Objective which, as announced this morning, combines with the process that will begin on January 20 and culminate on March 29 and 30 during its IX General Assembly, where the next president of Euzkadi Buru Batzar (executive body) will be appointed. party) and eight of its members. They have not yet confirmed whether Ortuzar will run for office. “It’s in your hands.”he said, addressing the crowd. A break with the current leadership is not expected and, as an indication, during the first gathering of the training course in Zarauz, he himself declared that it was a “pride” to have led the party so far. ‘now (he took office in 2013). and “ “a great responsibility to lead it into the future.”
The times to come when the reform of the Statute of Guernica and, more particularly, the The incorporation into the text of the “right to decide” will be the workhorse. The PNV agreed with EH Bildu last Thursday on two motions at the General Assemblies of Gipuzkoa in which he asked to include it, in addition to national recognition and the bilateral relationship with the State (Spain, in terms of nationalism), but its association with the Basque Socialist Party (PSE) to govern the autonomous community results in a balance that is difficult to maintain.
The socialists, led by Eneko Andueza, are not tasked with exploring this path – the coalition pact relegates the issue to the party level and not to that of the regional executive – and Ortuzar had words this Sunday to them. “They tear their clothes every time we invoke the right to decide. It’s like, to sit down and talk with them, we’re asking them to change their name,” he said.
The Peneuvistas use what was agreed with Pedro Sánchez to support his inauguration in November last year: a negotiation, which must be ratified in the Basque Parliament, in the Congress of Deputies and through a referendum for Basque citizenship; for the “national recognition of Euskadi, the safeguarding of Basque skills and a system of guarantees based on bilaterality and formality”. “The pact is binding and Moncloa knows it,” he declared vehemently. the lendakari, Imanol Pradales, who intervened before Ortuzar.
The strength of EH Bildu, who during the European elections of 9-J gave the PNV a “surprise” in terms of votes and also took advantage of the fragility of Pedro Sánchez to assert his sovereign theses, is moving nationalist positions. Although training sources inform ABC that defending the right to decide is a “historical and fundamental position”, it will be Ortuzar himself who will confirm this If it is on the negotiating table once transferred to the parties in the series of contacts that must be opened in the next dates.
And as the Peneuvistas insisted, in a sting thrown at those of Arnaldo Otegi, who propose to take advantage of the “Aberzale majority” in the Regional Chamber To advance their independence project, there will not only be bipartisan talks. An “open arms” image that the Pradales cabinet has been trying to convey since Lendakari’s inauguration to turn the page on the “Urkullu era”, but which does not spare it from the clash with Bildu.
The Aberzale left was present in Foronda. If not physically, yes, through the words of the highest leaders of Basque nationalism. Concretely, it was Pradales who made the most reference to his rival, warning against those who “defend an alternative model” which “looks like Castro’s Cuba and Sandinista Nicaragua in the mirror and is today acclaimed by Chavista Venezuela.”
