The national assembly of the PNV agreed this Sunday to convene in Donostia the conclave that will elect the new president of Euzkadi Buru Batzar (EBB) and the new leadership and, above all, to reset an organization that has not avoided wear out the polls from the last electoral cycle. Without the continuity of Andoni Ortuzar being clear yet, in office since 2013 and before that since 2008 at the head of the most powerful local organization, that of Biscay, the party has already officially started the renewal process with this announcement . It will culminate on March 29 and 30 in the capital of Gipuzkoa.
Taking advantage of the Alderdi Eguna, the celebration of the party’s annual party in Foronda, on the outskirts of Vitoria, the PNV brought together, as planned, its highest authority between congresses. Ortuzar communicated the schedule and procedure of the internal process. As always, it will be a double round. During the first, from January 20 to February 2, members will be able to propose to the batzokis a name to lead the EBB and six “burukides” or leaders. The final composition of the national leadership will emerge from the second round. “Those who have received the support of at least three municipal organizations will move on to the second round. During this second round, which will be held from February 10 to 26, members will again have the right to elect a candidate for the presidency of the EBB and eight Burukists,” underlines the formation.
Then, from February 27 to March 26, regional assemblies will take place in each historic territory. From there will come the delegates who will go to the general assembly. These delegates have an “imperative vote”, that is to say they must support the candidates supported by their respective bases. This complex process, exclusive to this training. This is what Ortuzar clings to in order not to answer the key question of its continuity. He insists that it is the bases that determine the names and that no one can apply or withdraw. It is not expected that in his speeches Alderdi Eguna will also refer to this issue, which has been latent internally since Iñigo Urkullu was abandoned as Lehendakari and a generational replacement was opted for. The EBB, in fact, is essentially controlled by Urkullu’s contemporaries, such as Ortuzar himself or Joseba Aurrekoetxea or Koldo Mediavilla, among others.
The current president of the PNV also reported that the internal reset, which sometimes gave scope to the refoundation as the first assembly or congress after the dictatorship (Pamplona, 1977) or the first after the split of the EA (Zestoa, 1987), will play five political presentations. These are “Euskadi, nation in Europe”, “social justice”, “better, sustainable and peaceful world”, “links with Basque citizens” and a fifth internal document to achieve a “democratic, militant and agile organization to respond to “the political and social challenges of Euskadi”. “The drafts of these documents, which will be prepared during the months of October and November in a participatory manner by teams made up of aldermen [afiliados]will then be approved by the EBB and sent for debate to municipal bodies on December 9. March 10 will be the deadline for the presentation of resolution proposals and communications. And it will be within the framework of the general assembly, on March 29 and 30, that these documents will be definitively approved,” explained the PNV.
From now on, the five territorial zones of the PNV will decide whether or not to also activate the renewal process, also in a double round. They could all or part of them and in parallel or not with the national process. In the case of members of the autonomous community, in Biscay, the strongest, there is a growing internal critical current towards Itxaso Atutxa; in Álava, José Antonio Suso has already declared that he will not continue; and in Gipuzkoa, except for a brief period, there has been no leader other than Joseba Egibar since the split.
