The PSE-EE Secretary-General, Idoia Mendia, will leave office this November after seven years at the head of the socialist delegation in the Basque Country. Mendia, who will continue to be Vicelehendakari and Labour Advisor to the Basque Government, will not be presented to the primaries to be held on 20 and 21 this month.

The decision was communicated a year ago to the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, but he made it public at a meeting held this Tuesday at the Campos Theatre in Bilbao. All those who have approached have been thanked for the work done in recent years to complete a “stronger Basque Country”. But he stressed that the party is "at the turning point" and that the new time "needs new leadership" for the coming years. Eneko Andueza, parliamentary spokesman and secretary-general of the Gipuzkoan Socialists, is the most likely to be the tymonel of the PSE-EE.

Mendia, who has held this post since 2014, has been appointed President of the Basque Government, Patxi López. Mendia has underlined that the party, which at that time was in crisis, has managed in these seven years to "strengthen the CAV and gain the confidence of the citizens". On the one hand, he has argued that they have left a “more modern” territory and that medals have been put into social achievements such as the right to housing, support for energy poverty or the brake on fracking.

On the other hand, Mendia added that CAV has become more open and more open. “I saw an opportunity, and I told you: the possibility of forming a government between different for the first time in history, a plural society without threats or violence.” Mendia referred to the fight against terrorism and the choice of socialism against nationalism as a means of achieving "freedom for all". “It has been an honour to be the first woman secretary-general, it has been an honour to be in that position, and it has been an honour to be the first secretary-general elected by all the militants.”