THE President of Navarre, Maria Chiviteand the lehendakari, Imanol Pradalescoincided this Wednesday at claiming the “solidarity” of the Navarre Convention and the Basque Concert and stressed that they are models included in the Constitution and “armored” for the European Union.
Maria Chivite and Imanol Pradales held this Wednesday at the Palacio de Navarra, in Pamplona, their first institutional meetingin which they addressed issues such as financing models, the development of the high-speed corridor or the updating of the collaboration protocol between the two Communities.
In a joint appearance before the media, shivite defended that both Navarre Convention like the Basque Concert “are solidarity tools” and he lamented that “it is a debate that opens periodically in Spain and now the financing model of Catalonia calls it into question again.”
Chivite said that “whatever the political agreements, Regardless of what is said about Catalonia, we will continue to teach the validity of our model, defending it before anyone who questions it.”
Furthermore, he stressed that the model of the Foral Community and the Basque Country “implies a huge responsibility“that Navarra” solves with magnificent solvency.
For his part, Lehendakari regretted “the self-serving attacksunfair, unfounded that from time to time Concert and Accord suffer” and defended that it is “a mode of organization that we share Navarre and Basque Countryand this is not only protected constitutionally but protected and valued by the EU, which is also agreed with the State, which supports it, which has been historically agreed with all the Spanish governments that have passed since the transition.
Imanol Pradales also defended “singularity, solidarity and rigorous management that our governments have historically carried out” from the Basque Concert.
Asked about the possibility of extend these financing models to the rest of Spain, Chivite said he does not know “what is the proposal of the coffee for all, we have an agreed financing model, included in the Constitution and approved by the European institutions, we understand that other Communities, such as the Canary Islands, have a single financing, I understand that “it must open a debate on the financing model, but the system has not managed to renew itself even with the absolute majority of the Popular Party.”
For his part, Pradales said that his profession “has to do with respecting the Basque Concert.”“, that it is not used as a throwing weapon in a debate that corresponds to the State and that its solidarity, its singularity and the rigor with which we have historically worked to never ask for rescue from the State are respected.”
CHIVITE AND PRADALES DON’T GET WET WITH THE TAV
After this meeting, the President of the Government of Navarre, María Chiviteand the lehendakari, Imanol Pradales, asked the Ministry of Transport which “accelerates” the preparation of reports for decision making regarding the connection of the high-speed rail corridor with the Y Basque.
The Navarrese president said that “the connection of the Basque Y with Navarre it’s a essential objective for our governments” and said the ministry must “resolve technical uncertainties as quickly as possible to be able to take appropriate political decisions.”
“In the meantime, let’s not forget that these works continue, that the Cantabrian-Mediterranean corridor will only make sense if it also connects us to Zaragoza, so it is essential to complete this connection to the south, which in the last five years has had a decisive boost and, therefore, so important is the connection between the Navarrese corridor and the Basque Y, as the union of all these infrastructures with the Spanish high-speed system through this connection with Zaragoza” he stressed.
Chivite insisted, on the link with the Y Basquein which “the Minister must do his job, we cannot delay time, I do not know if we demand a date so much, but we demand that we have this technical information on the table to make the best political choice and that it is as soon as possible. “This does not mean a slowdown in the implementation of infrastructure in the Community, because it continues to be done, but we must have these studies on the table to make this decision and I hope it will be made as soon as possible,” he indicated.
The Lehendakari, Imanol Pradales, said that “The position of the Basque Government is clear” and indicated that “we are facing a very relevant infrastructure for Euskadi and for this country, that we must have all the technical, economic, environmental information, that we must co-participate and co-decide which is the best rail connection for the future of Euskadi and that we must make this decision and share it between three governments, the Spanish government, the government of Navarre and the Basque government.
Thus, Pradales stressed that “we want to be an institution involved in co-decision, in co-participation, in the final decision-making, and therefore the technical teams, in what affects the Basque Governmentare available and will maintain a dialogue and permanent contact with the teams of Ministry of Transportand I understand that the technical teams of the Government of Navarre will also do so.
Lehendakari stressed that “there is a whole story” in relation to the link with the Y Basquebut felt that “we must be careful about the environmental impact, the ability of the connection to support the economic, industrial development and competitiveness of the countrythe relationship between the cost, investment and benefit of the infrastructure, thinking in the long term, about the impact in terms of territorial and social cohesion”.
Furthermore, Imanol Pradales stressed that this is “a infrastructure on which depends the mobility not only of people but also of goods between the Basque Autonomous Community and the Provincial Community of Navarre, yes, but also the connection with Europe, and from the technical point of view, it must be taken into account in the short term the complexity of the investment and, in the medium term, also its possible saturation.” “All these elements are what will allow us to make a political decision. All this set of information of a technical, economic, environmental nature, etc.”, he stressed.
After that he asked for the central government which “speed up the preparation of these reports and we can resolve the problems connection of the Basque Y with France and Spain and that we can do it as quickly as possible.”
About the positions of the General Deputy of GuipuzcoaPradales said he was not going to “waste time in speculations or interpretations” and said he understood the desire of the general deputies of Gipuzkoa or Alava to defend the interests of their territories, but indicated that “we must take into account” What is the best connection for Euskadi and for this we need technical information at this time. “In the meantime, I am not going to engage in speculations,” he assured.
