The PSOE guarantees the PNV to transfer all pending powers and talk about the national recognition of Euskadi

Ortuzar celebrates that the pact includes the transfer of the economic management of Social Security, although Escrivá "does not like it"

The agreement between the PSOE and the PNV for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez guarantees the "effective transfer" to the Basque Country within a maximum period of two years of all pending transfers included in the Statute of Gernika and opens the door to talk about "recognition "national" of Euskadi and the "safeguard" of its powers.

This was stated by the president of the PNV, Andoni Ortuzar, after signing the agreement with the general secretary of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, by which the Basque nationalists will support his investiture and guarantee the stability of the legislature as long as the future Government complies with "loyal" manner with the signed text. "We are a serious party. If these commitments are fulfilled, we will be there through thick and thin," he guaranteed.

Specifically, in the pact the PSOE and the PNV agree to "negotiate on the national recognition of Euskadi, the safeguarding of Basque competencies and a system of guarantees based on bilaterality and forality," explained Ortuzar, who stressed that In any case, the agreements reached by the parties must respond to the majority demands of the Basque Parliament as the "legitimate representative of the Basque people."

The Basque nationalist has refused to draw parallels with the agreements signed by the PSOE with Junts and ERC because the PNV comes from "another political tradition", although he has pointed out that it can share with Junts, ERC or the BNG a global demand to recognize Spain as a plurinational State and Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia as "nations".

But he does not believe that "the same recipes" apply to the three autonomous communities because each of them has "different" political aspirations. "For us, national recognition is linked to a bilateral relationship anchored in the additional provisions of the Constitution and the Statute of Gernika, which are those that protect the forality of our territories," she pointed out.

And from there, the president of the PNV has insisted, there is an area of ​​agreement so that the Basque political forces with the State can give rise to "a new legal-political personality" for the Basque Country. In any case, any change in this sense would be made through a reform of the Statute of Gernika, PNV sources later specified.

The other leg of the pact with the PSOE contemplates "historical" demands of the PNV such as the transfer of the economic management of Social Security, an issue that Ortuzar believes may not please the acting Minister of Social Security, José Luis Escrivá, who At the time he claimed that this was "impossible", even citing rulings from the Constitutional Court. "I don't like so many things either and I accept them..." he said.

Ortuzar applauded that the pact also includes the PSOE's commitment to the priority of agreements in the Basque Country, an issue that was a "stumbling block" in the last legislature but which has now been achieved.

Other commitments involve the Joint Concert Commission having the capacity to set the bases for replacement in public job offers both in the Basque Country and in Navarra, as well as the global maximums for the increase in the remuneration mass of public employees, and for reinforcing the economic agreement with the new taxes.

MONITORING COMMITTEE

Likewise, among other measures, the agreement talks about reinforcing the powers of the Ertzaintza, with their participation in international security spheres, promoting social security specific to cooperatives or injecting 100 million euros in four years to undertake the leap from Basque to the new digital universe.

In short, it is a "very broad" agreement with which the PNV ensures its favorable vote for Sánchez's investiture but also guarantees that it will give stability to the legislature, as long as this contract is faithfully complied with, for which there will be a commission that every six months will strictly monitor compliance with what was agreed.

At this point, and asked if the Budgets are included there, the Jeltzale leader responded that the public accounts are "something else", but he stressed that "the logical thing is that if you have supported someone's investiture, two months later they will "let's have a budget." Of course, he trusts that, in any case, the Government will be open to negotiating.

Regarding the agreements signed by the PSOE with Junts and ERC and, specifically, about the Amnesty Law that both contemplate, Ortuzar began by making it clear that he has not yet seen the content of that norm, but he has celebrated that it has been valued politics in the face of conflict and that for that reason alone it is "worth it." In any case, he has said that "globally" the PNV is in favor of all measures that involve de-escalation of the conflict.

Asked specifically if they share the issue of lawfare (judicialization of the policy against the independence movement), the Basque nationalist did not want to speak out without having the text in front of him but revealed that he spoke about this issue with Carles Puigdemont in their last meeting, in which The former Catalan president explained to him how far they wanted him to operate. "And it seemed reasonable to me," he simply said.