THE President of the Popular Union of Navarro (UPN), Cristina Ibarrola believes that his party is “more necessary than ever” in defense of formality Navarra: “María Chivite every time she has to choose between Navarra and Pedro Sánchez, she chooses Pedro Sánchez,” she said in an interview with EFE.
In the last three legislatures, the UPN has failed to govern Navarre, despite being the party with the most votes. In the case of the Pamplona City Council, Ibarrola became mayor after the last local elections thanks to the PSN’s blank vote. six months later The Socialists supported a motion of censure that removed him from office and gave command to EH-Bildu.
According to him, PSN “crossed a red line” “hardly imaginable” by “offering” an institution to EH Bildu.
“We are always ready to agree, to listen, to talk about how to resolve the problems of Navarre and the Navarrese with the Socialist Party or with any other party agree with us on how to solve them. But the personal relationships have been badly damaged” he said.
Ibarrola accuses Chivite, convinced that “he does not adequately defend the Navarrese competitions“, and also seeks to establish his own profile in front of the PP, a party with which they have, he admits, “many coincidences on many issues.”
“But the UPN is the Foralist party by convictionby feeling, by history. The UPN is the party that defends the regional regime of Navarre; we carry it in our DNA; “No one can give us a lesson on this, neither the Socialist Party, nor the Popular Party, nor any other party, because we were born for this and we are more necessary than ever for this,” he emphasizes.
In 2023, the UPN and the PP ran separately for the first time in the legislative elections since 1979 and the result was not good. Ibarrola does not specify what will happen in the next electionsBut today he believes that the UPN must have “its own voice” in Congress and the Senate.
“What I am very clear about is that Navarre is governed from Pamplona. It is not governed from Madrid or Bilbao; “It is not about what the national parties are marking in Madrid, nor about what the Basque independence parties are marking in Bilbao,” he emphasizes, referring to the socialists’ agreements with the PNV and Bildu.
As examples of this own voice regarding the popular, let us recall that the deputy of UPN Voted in Favour of Socialist Anti-Pimping Bill -which the PP rejected and ultimately failed due to lack of support- or the transfer of traffic transfers to Navarre.
“We vote responsibly for what we defendin a coherent manner,” he said; “But “We’re not selling ourselves for anything”he adds before regretting that Politics becomes “pure marketing”“.
In this panorama frames the motion of censure that removed him from the Pamplona city hallbut also the Socialists agree with ERC to provide Catalonia with a “unique financing”.
His party, he claims, is not closed to discussions on financing modelsbut always “by rigor and seriousness”. and asks remove the focus of the regional regime of Navarre and its Economic agreement which, he emphasizes, “is not a privilege and is in solidarity with Spain.”
The UPN wants Navarre to “continue to be a differentiated autonomous community, but within Spain” adds Ibarrola, who is committed to greater government autonomy, but criticizes the fact that at present Parties like PNV and Bildu are negotiating powers for Navarre on behalf of the regional community.
As he points out, he does not mind having agreed with these parties in supporting the transfer of traffic powers in Navarra: “They will vote for what they consider, we vote for what we defend and believe responsibly and what we have defended all our lives.”
“We want road competition, we want the Navarre Provincial Police to lead it, but We want the Navarre Civil Guard to continue working alongside the Provincial Police the management of the service, something on which EH Bildu and PSN do not agree,” he said.
Ibarrola recriminate “a lot “broken promises” in Chivite, at the head of the regional government since 2019 thanks to the abstention of EH Bildu.
According to him, “Navarre has not had what it deserves for a long time” and he cites the example of infrastructure: “We have contributed to the high-speed train system of 80% of the Spanish and Navarre remains isolated without high-speed trainwith the socialist governments and with the PP governments. We are the only capital of Spain that is not connected to Madrid by motorway.“.
Transport Minister Óscar Puente told Congress last week that his goal is for the AVE to reach Pamplona before 2030, but Ibarrola points out that Chivite promised that high speed would arrive in Navarre before the end of the legislaturethat is, 2027.
“What we want is to have deadlines, timetable and budgetary commitments so that Navarre does not continue to be isolated,” he emphasizes.
Despite the current parliamentary instability, Ibarrola does not see the end of the legislature approaching and is harshly accusing Pedro Sánchez, whom he considers a “lying machine.”
According to him, no one calls elections if they know they will lose them – “and the risk of Pedro Sánchez would be significant now” – and today A motion of censure is also unlikely.
As the new UPN leadership sets priorities for its political agenda, Ibarrola has the challenge of consolidating her image as president of the party without a seat in the regional parliamentwhere the former president, Javier Esparza, is the group’s spokesperson.
“It does not seem at all incompatible to lead the party and not be part of the parliamentary group,” he emphasizes without dispelling doubts about his future: “I have already said that I want to try again to be mayor of Pamplonabut I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
