The reform of the Statute of Guernica continues to produce tensions within the Basque Government. Two days after the PNV and EH Bildu jointly approved the second initiative aimed at integrating the “right to decide” in the new text, Socialists warn of the “fracture” this would cause for the stability of the regional Executive.
Underlining a position already expressed by the secretary general of the Socialist Party of Basque Country, Eneko Andueza, on this occasion, the one responsible for giving a warning to his nationalist partners was the vice-lendakari, Mikel Torres. “If you want to use the Self-Government Update deepen the question of independence, sovereignty or the right to create a new state, there will be a significant divide,” he said this morning in an interview with Radio Euskadi.
A few words that arrive the same week when the rigor that the PNV and EH Bildu apply to the socialists on this issue was confirmed. The two formations approved Wednesday during the General Assemblies of Vizcaya a resolution from the independence left which demanded the incorporation in the new wording of the Statute the “right to decide”, a way of referring to the right to self-determination.
This is the second territory of the Basque Country in which they adopt a similar decision, since the previous week they had voted with Bildu on two similar motions during the Gipuzkoa Assizes. And the same thing should happen in Alava. The PNV does not hide that the recognition as a nation of the Basque Country This is a fundamental position, but one that keeps the minority partners of the Basque coalition government on alert.
“We know our ideological positions,” acknowledged the vicelendakari, who is also in charge of the Ministry of Economy, Labor and Employment, and stressed that we must differentiate “What is the government’s agreement on certain situations and declarations, which the political parties will have to see. In the agreement signed between the PNV and the PSE after the Basque elections of 21-A, both parties undertake not to hinder the negotiations, which in this case would remain under the direction of the party leadership and not of the ‘Regional executive.
Macroeconomic forecasts
According to him, devoting himself to the contrary would be “quite clumsy” on the part of the group chaired by Andoni Ortuzar, since “I would make a big mess of EH Bildu, that’s what interests him “It’s about widening the gap between the two parties who have an agreement to govern Euskadi.” Thus, he asked to focus “on what unites us” and insisted on the commitment of the Spanish and regional governments to transfer the pending powers promised by Pedro Sánchez “as soon as possible”.
Additionally, Torres has presented today the macroeconomic perspectives of the Basque Country for the rest of the year and the next. According to forecasts from the Basque Government, the region’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will grow by 1.9% in the remaining months of 2024 and by 2.1% in 2025. These are data that place the autonomous community in below the national level. average, something that the vicelendakari attributes to the lesser impact of the tourism sector.
