Pedro Sánchez’s partners revolt and demand what belongs to them. This Sunday, he was president of the PNV, Andoni Ortuzarwho indicated that his party “will respect and apply” the autonomy agreements agreed with the PSOE within the framework of the investiture agreement of the Sanchez. A pact that includes “the national recognition of Euskadi and a system of guarantees based on bilaterality”.
Ortuzar launched this message during the Alderdi Egunaon the PNV Party Day, where in his speech to the members and supporters gathered at Foronda (Álava), Ortuzar addressed topics such as the debate on self-government reform, the situation in Venezuela and the process of internal renewal of the party.
The peneuvista leader made reference to it system reform process Basque Autonomous Governmentwhich will be taken up in the coming months in the Basque Parliament. Ortuzar insisted on the need to “clarify“on this issue, because “there are those who try to tense the atmosphere before the discussion even begins.”
He criticized the fact that some, even before starting the dialogue, are already seeking to derail the process. Regarding the PES-EE, he regretted that its leaders were “putting a bandage on the wound and predicting a nationalist alliance”. He added that “they are alarmed every time we talk about the right to decide”, comparing it to a demand to change the name of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party.
Ortuzar assured that he would not waste “a single minute” in “sterile discussions”, and reminded the PES of what the two parties signed in the investiture agreement. He read several passages of the agreement, in which they undertake to “negotiate and approve, both in Euskadi and with the State, the future self-government, using the potential of the First Additional Provision of the Constitution and of the Additional Provision of the Statute of Gernika.”
Likewise, he recalled that the agreement includes the obligation to “negotiate in good faith and reach an agreement both within the Basque institutions and the Cortes Generales”, so that said agreement is then ratified by the Basque people. He further stressed that “the national recognition of Euskadi, the safeguarding of Basque skills and a system of guarantees based on bilaterality and formality” are issues that must be the subject of dialogue and negotiation between the parties.
Pradales, “good cop”
A week ago, the Lehendakari, Imanol Pradales, guaranteed the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, the support of the PNV to ensure the continuity of legislative power, despite the recent parliamentary defeats suffered by the Socialists in the Congress of Deputies. This is what he told the socialist leader after his meeting with him in La Moncloa last Friday. “Euskadi will play in favor of the stability of the State,” defended the PNV leader during the press conference after the meeting with Sánchez.
Pradales assured that he had perceived in Sánchez the intention to maintain “a long term” and that the PNV intended to “maintain its stability”, in exchange for the central government’s desire to “move forward” in the outstanding issues with the Basque government. Countries, such as the agreed transfers and the stability path to prepare the State General Budgets (PGE). This Friday, the president of the government began a series of bilateral meetings with regional presidents, after suffering several parliamentary defeats in the Lower House.
“The impression I got from the meeting I had with President Sánchez is that he wants to continue a long legislature and, therefore, he is going to work in this direction to guarantee the stability of the legislature,” emphasized Pradales in the press. conference after his meeting with Sánchez. “On behalf of the Basque Government and Lehendakari, I have already declared it on other occasions: Euskadi will play in favor of the stability of the State, because it is a key element of this stability and, moreover , I believe that stability is beneficial. to continue moving forward on relevant issues that affect the improvement of Basque self-government,” added the PNV leader.
On the other hand, the Lehendakari presented to the head of the Executive a new “realistic” timetable to “accelerate” the transfer of the 29 transfers still pending for the Basque Country, confident that the Basque Statute would be respected “in its “in full” in 2025. This was agreed in November 2023 as part of the agreement between the PSOE and the PNV for the inauguration of Sánchez.
