Automatically translated from Basque, translation may contain errors. More information here. Elhuyarren itzultzaile automatikoaren logoa

A new era, two book presentations and three jackets

  • Great expectation in the Parliament of Vitoria-Gasteiz on the last spring day. If you've gathered geek people somewhere, you've been here. But there are a lot of people who haven't been there for a long time, and that's for something. 300 media professionals, not in vain. At the age of twelve, the two boxers have been new to going out into the ring. In the first hour of the morning there was no room at Parliament's door because it rained and the nervousness within it, I am sure that today's battle can mark the tempo of the next four years. Urkullu hasn’t heard Otxandiano’s speech, which entered the chamber when Pradales was going to speak.

Pello Otxandiano hizketan, eta atzean Imanol Pradales begira. Pradalesen azpiko eserlekua oraindik ere lehendakari den Iñigo Urkullurena da. Urkulluk ez du Otxandianoren diskurtsoa bertatik bertara jarraitu; amaitu orduko sartu da aretoan, Pradales hizketan hastear zenean. Eusko Legebiltzarra

20 June 2024 - 12:35
Last updated: 14:17

Tour of the investiture session: At 9:30 a.m. the Extraordinary Plenary Session begins. They have submitted their candidates for lehendakari, first EH Bildu and then the PNV; each candidate has given a conference of 90 minutes. The meeting was suspended until 14:30 a.m. So each parliamentary group, from minor to major, has 30 minutes to show their views. The two candidates have a response time, each of them 30 more minutes. The groups are back: An interval of 10 minutes each The meeting will be suspended temporarily for each group to decide on its vote and then the vote will be taken. Completion is scheduled for around 20:00 hours.

Imanol Pradales has come through the arm of Andoni Ortuzar to the parliament hall, as have dozens of journalists, who distinguished the difference between several PNV members and parliamentarians and those of EH Bildu. Pradales has been given the press directly, they have been asked what political programme he was going to present. The answer was hardly audible. It seems that it has turned a little bit and it was no less, because it has run out of half a centimeter away. He has spoken under. It's been just five seconds since I talked. It has not made any progress. What demontre, what they wanted, then I would have 90 minutes of glory in the lectern.

Shortly afterwards, Pello Otxandiano, accompanied by Nerea Kortajarena, arrived in the parliament. You first go at once, then you mimic the other, you feel nervous and you didn't know where it was going very well. All the members of the coalition waited for him and they clarified the way, passing through the thousand and one cameras of the journalists. The people of EH Bildu make a gesture of love, they say that there are all of them and go to the office that they have in their works. As musicians say, I think the last-minute jokes will help ease the nerves, because Otxandiano had to start talking.

Otxandian: in a rigid, well-known tone

It comes out on the lectern with a 45-page leaflet. Classifiable in the Department of Sociology, attending at least the first quarter of an hour of the speech, since, as fake Chomsky died, he has made an analysis of the globalization of the world and of the neoliberal system, with hardly any data, speaking of a more human discourse. The rise of the tip of the right, the commodification of most areas of life... “We are experiencing failure,” he said. And interestingly, when he was pronouncing that more or less, the acting Minister for Economy and Finance entered the chamber. The “Euskadi Banks” are going well, the counselor always says, because every year more is raised in taxes, but Lakua’s executive branch has run out of its own savings bank or strategic company, and that’s why citizens too. Otxandiano has criticised it harshly.

To the one who has been in the executive, however, few would question the opening of other doors – otherwise read the report that ARGIA has produced this week on the arms company Satlantis. And it is armaments, at least among the NATO member states, a strategic path for many investors. The Government of Spain, supported by the first three political forces with more representation in the Parliament of Vitoria, has increased defensive spending considerably, but Otxandiano has made statements in this respect that cannot be caught up in hands. “What is the scenario that reinforces this level of escalation if not the Third World War? Where are we going?” he asked, as if EH Bildu had something to do with this no, zero.

Subsequently, it has delved into the Basque sphere and the Basque culture, granting its title: “The bottle loses water.” He has made it clear, and has led him to suggest looking at the PNV, that the policies of the twentieth century do not serve in the twenty-first century.

Pradales: acting as president

However, according to Pradales, the Basque language is a “second language”. In Basque he says: “It’s one of the best gifts life has ever given me. Fortunately, I am a person who has the opportunity to live in a second language and the Basque language offers me a new way of seeing the world.” Perhaps I was turning to the idea you mentioned earlier, which was born in a family without Basque speakers.

He has expressed his satisfaction with the increased knowledge and use of the Basque Country and his commitment to “continue along this path”. But he has acknowledged that we are coming to a plateau, which is going down, and that is why he says that we must “revive the Basque Country”, “in partnership”. Having said that, he took Maialen Lujanbio's bertso: “So that we continue to create this country, from the Basque and the Basque countries.” I'm going to end.

The proposed change, in any case, has listed a little earlier the commitments of certain short-term actions to be undertaken by the government. Two innovations: to offer anyone the possibility to learn Basque free of charge at all levels, and to guarantee “real” the right to use Euskera in relations with the public administration. You will have to define how you want to do it.

Pradales looks like Urkullu. He has gone to Atril to make a general analysis, to say that the Basque Country is OK, “it is not an oasis, it is not an island, but we are OK”, and to give challenges of a round figure and to name a few. And Urkullu, like today, has put on a blue tie. The road begins somewhere, as Otxandiano said.

Sessions like today's have a lot to do with appearance. Too general promises are often made that are swept by the wind. They hear “improving working conditions”, from time to time hub, deal, center and the like, followed by the verbs “promote”, “push”, “develop” and “invest”. For some it is always a “historical moment” for not knowing what to do.

Self-government

Otxandian throws the ball to the left wall and Pradales responds with air. He says that the self-government lecture must be recovered by claiming that Urkullu has been hidden under the table from Ibarretxe, and that he brought it “à la carte” when he was in his interest, for the sessions of the first courses. Otxandiano reminds him that a parliament with an Abertzale majority has been set up.

Pradales has taken a perhaps unexpected step, and that has been the great novelty of the programme. What has been agreed with the Government of Spain, which has also transferred the last competences of the Gernika Statute, has assumed it as a compromise, but has also committed itself to “take a step further”. “The time has come. We want to agree and adopt, with the greatest possible consensus, a new Statute for the Basque Country”.

Otxandiano has ended his speech by extending his hand saying “it will not be of us” and “ambition”. The key to unraveling these ambitions will certainly be the PNV-PSE, to see how much they play in an absolute majority.

An epilogue

The “third jacket” that is brought to its owner is that of Andueza. It has been inflating for weeks, despite losing votes by winning two seats, and we have seen in the press how it is going to give up the management of a department, because family reconciliation is not easy... Surely Ortuzar and Pradales would prefer Andueza to enter the government, and better still as vice-president, because they would have few opportunities to criticize the government. But as “alone” will be PSE-EE Secretary-General, it will make someone feel uncomfortable and in more than a moment.

It is precisely in today’s plenary that Andueza was the one who got the most out of the seat and gone abroad. I wanted to glimpse the new red tie in front of the cameras, feel protagonist when I didn't have a morning speech... In any case, Andueza will be a figure to be considered in the next four years.


You are interested in the channel: Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoko politika
The Government is asked to intervene in the face of the exclusion suffered by children in the library of Deba
Several citizens of Deba have sent a massive letter to the Basque Library Service responsible for the management of public libraries, asking it to intervene in the face of the discriminatory regulations of the local library. Children under 6 years of age can only stay in the... [+]

Osakidetza calls for real and structural solutions in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Bilbao and San Sebastian
Thousands of people took to the streets on Saturday to demand "real solutions" from the Basque Government and the Department of Health to solve the structural problems of Osakidetza.

2025-01-30 | Leire Ibar
Call to fill the streets for public health in Bilbao, Vitoria-Gasteiz and San Sebastian on February 1
The Popular Platform for Public Health (OPA) has called for demonstrations on February 1. They call for mobilisation to combat the privatisation of health, to strengthen primary care, to improve conditions for health workers, to combat precariousness and to advocate for both... [+]

Guardian workers will continue mobilizations in the face of the “false promises” of the institutions
On Wednesday, the Laudio company began the process of cooling the oven with the guarantee of technicians from the Basque Government. The workers are outraged and “deceived” by the attitude of the organizations: "Whoever was going to protect us and be on the side of the... [+]

2025-01-29 | Julene Flamarique
Morocco prevents representatives of the Basque Parliament from entering El Aaiún “without any explanation”
Members of the Basque Fund and the Basque Parliament travel to study the human rights situation in Western Sahara. They couldn't even get off the plane. The MEPs have called Morocco’s position “shameful and unacceptable.”

To the department of education

I received your e-mail in personal mail on the strike portals. At first, like many others, I thought it was to let you know what options we have in the face of the strike. But no, the e-mail received was a political and communicative movement against the strike.

I will confess... [+]


History of the Government Headquarters in Paris: From the Gestapo’s claws back to the hands of the PNV
After decades of demand, the historic palace on Avenue Marceau 11 in Paris is finally in the hands of the PNV. For the jealous, beyond the monetary value, this building has an enormous symbolic value, since it connects them fully with the exile and the struggle against fascism.

2025-01-23 | Leire Ibar
Public transport discounts will be maintained in Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa for the moment
The Basque Government and the Provincial Councils anticipate that the goal is to continue with a 50% discount, but they are still waiting for the decision of the Spanish Government to secure funding.

2025-01-22 | ARGIA
The Basque Government sanctions the Ikastola de Zarautz with EUR 140,000 for exceeding the registration limit set
Ikastola Salbatore Mitxelena will pay a total of 140,000 euros for exceeding the registration limit imposed by the Basque Government in Child Education, but will keep the eight students as a result of the negotiations. Ikastola has denounced the decisions and attitudes of the... [+]

Several professors have created a group that aims to stop the "drift" of educational policies: "Bureaucracy is unsustainable"
A group of professors from the CAV has created the Meeting Point of the Professors of Artistic Education. They want to denounce the "drift" of educational policies, arguing that they are based on new continuous methodologies, on a "tremendous bureaucracy" and on the "absurd use" of... [+]

Basque trade unions join in favour of the minimum wage for Hego Euskal Herria
ELA, LAB, ESK, Steilas, Etxalde and Hiru have presented a popular legislative initiative in the Basque Parliament and in the Navarre Parliament to reach an inter-professional agreement in favour of a minimum wage. The Basque Government has appreciated the initiative, but has... [+]

2024-12-27 | ARGIA
This year, the CAV has a total of 5,212 complaints of assault by the Holy Father, 8 per cent more than last year.
As of November 2024, 683 sexual assaults have been reported, 16.7% more than last year, according to data from Emakunde. There has also been an increase in the number of women who have reported domestic violence (975) and the number of women who have been assaulted by their... [+]

Public transport will be free for children under the age of 12, although two years ago it was not viable
Public transport will continue at half the price next year, after the Spanish Government has announced that it will keep the share of its subsidies.

Red winter

Budgets and the closure of annual accounts are nothing more at this time, from the domestic economy to most of the socio-economic spaces that we share. Large companies have begun to extract calculators and implement major plans for 2025. Small and medium-sized institutions and... [+]


2024-12-23 | Estitxu Eizagirre
EH Bizirik has mobilized against the plan approved by the Basque Government:
"Overcoming the current capitalist model is fundamental to finding a way out to the ecological and energy emergency"
On 20 December the Basque Government approved the "provisional version" of the Sectoral Territorial Plan for Renewable Energy (PTS), following the tradition that projects that generate social conflict will be approved on the eve of the holiday. EH Activa has concentrated before... [+]

Eguneraketa berriak daude