The Lehendakari, Imanol Pradales, included in the request for the transfer to Euskadi the management of the economic regime of Social Security the so-called “passive employment policies”, that is, unemployment benefits and the wage guarantee fund (FOGASA). This part was expressly excluded when in 2011, when Patxi López was president, the transfer of Inem and the creation of Lanbide were agreed and now an agreement with the State is sought for 2025. Pradales launched this message after a meeting in La Moncloa with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, from whom he also obtained the commitment to activate “at the end of October” a bilateral commission to “accelerate” the agreements to complete the 1979 Statute, with the intention that this same 2024 can now undertake the transfers of coastal management, maritime rescue or meteorology.
This Friday, Pradales inaugurated the series of meetings with all regional leaders convened by the President of the Government. In fact, the Basque community was the first to obtain its autonomy after the approval of the Constitution. Not two months have passed since the first summit held in Vitoria at the end of July, very symbolic because it is only the third visit of a head of the Central Executive to Ajuria Enea in almost half a century since the approval of the Statute.
Lehendakari, who appeared in Basque and Spanish in Madrid, considered it “a very important step” that in just one month a bilateral commission is created to speed up the statutory negotiations. This is something that Iñigo Urkullu did not achieve in the previous legislature. This forum must agree on a first block before the end of the year. Euskadi feels “very advanced”, as he has said on other occasions, in areas such as the coast. The PNV has already received from Sánchez the date of 2025 as the deadline to complete the Statute in exchange for the investiture and Pradales wants to use this calendar for a total of 29 agreements. The socialists, coalition partners in Euskadi, have already warned of the difficulties that will entail social security, never before entrusted to an autonomous community. Pradales also insists on the management of “strategic” infrastructures – ports and airports – but here too there are different interpretations because the Constitution provides that the State manages those that are “of general interest” (art. 149.1.20). And he indicated that afterwards, it would be time to negotiate a new status that includes Basque national recognition.
Pradales left the meeting with the feeling that Sánchez wants a long term and stressed that Euskadi defends this “stability” in Spain because it is necessary to comply with its political agreements. Lehendakari also called for reaching an agreement on deficit and debt limits that will allow Basque institutions to have expansive budgets in 2025. Likewise, he reiterated his defense of regional singularity in the face of the controversy opened by regional financing after the promise of a new Catalan framework. “I’m not going to enter someone else’s house because I don’t like anyone to enter ours. But he is being unfairly attacked [al sistema vasco] with enormous ignorance,” he told reporters.
The Lehendakari also wanted to ask Sánchez to speed up the arrival of the high-speed train in Euskadi. The work began in 2006 and many details are still pending. One of the most important is the connection with Navarre. Pradales wants the government to present the “reports” on the two proposed alternatives, that of Vitoria and that of Ezkio/Itsaso. He assures that he has Sánchez’s “commitment” to discuss this issue with Oscar Puente, who has two Basque socialists on his team, José Antonio Santano (Secretary of State) and Pedro Marco (new president of Adif). The meeting also analyzed the situation in Venezuela, in particular the arrest of two Bilbao residents accused of terrorism by the regime of Nicolas Maduro.
