PNV believes the ERC proposal for a new referendum "positive" opening "a position in agreement with the State"

He says that, "as much as Feijóo claims and that Abascal kicks", he does not see Sánchez "moving the election date an inch"

BILBAO, 13 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The president of the EBB of the PNV, Andoni Ortuzar, has considered "positive" the new ERC proposal for a referendum to obtain independence, "opening a position in agreement with the State."

In an interview on Onda Vasca, collected by Europa Press, Ortuzar has said that he does not believe that ERC will raise it "so that it happens tomorrow". In his opinion, "the scenario that is drawing for the future ERC must be valued positively, in its fair measure, to the extent that it is taking the holding of a referendum to international and objective parameters."

As he recalled, one of the criticisms made of the Catalan process is that it was "unilateral and there had been no negotiation with the State, international mediation and clear rules of the game", while now, ERC "is putting it and opens a position according to the state, a bit the model of Montenegro".

Andoni Ortuzar has affirmed that "there is still a long way to go to negotiate", at the same time that he has considered "what ERC has put forward as a positive proposal". "Another thing is that also, with all the legitimacy in the world, from the State Government, from the state parties, they put different alternatives before us, but if a step is opened for political dialogue and this is not prosecuted, we will have taken a step forward. important".

Asked if the ERC approach is transferable to the new status for Euskadi, Ortuzar pointed out that, "in the characteristics of the text that the PNV proposed for the new status, one of the issues was the right to decide and what we were proposing is that the The right to decide had to be negotiated in accordance with the institutions of one side and the other, and its agreed exercise". In this way, he has assured that it is "something very similar to what ERC is promoting."

Ortuzar has also referred to the reform of the crime of embezzlement, approved yesterday by the PSOE, Unidas Podemos and Esquerra Republicana and has considered that, "from Madrid a quite distorted opinion is being radiated" of what this reform is. As he has said, he does not believe that "it will be, nor should it be, a sieve to facilitate, to forgive or for the corrupt to get away with lesser penalties."

The jeltzale leader specified that "what people have to remember is that what is being changed now was a reform that the PP carried out on its own, when it had an absolute majority, and it was not intended to reinforce the fight against corruption, but to scare President Artur Mas and Catalan politicians so that they would not enter the 9N referendum".

With this reform, which he has acknowledged "very ad hoc for the Catalan case", he has specified that, "basically, and that is what people have to understand", what is being done is "returning to the situation that had before 2015".

If the PNV had been "in the negotiating ointment", they would surely have done "something else", as he stated, to consider what was agreed to be good "if it results in Catalonia reaching a certain political normalization in which people, parties and institutions can freely express and defend their ideas and can launch political processes".

According to Ortuzar, "as the new text stands, rigid legislation is safeguarded, tough enough on corruption" and what it achieves is "sweetening or paving the way for Catalonia to run for some more normal, more democratic and of not so much judicialization of politics". "Deep down, what is behind it is trying to return to politics from politics and not from it from the judicial spheres and penalties," she insisted, to emphasize that "the corrupt do not go out into the street."

In relation to the request for early elections by the president of the PP, Alberto Nuñez Feijóo, and the presentation of a motion of censure by Vox, he has considered these actions an "empty exercise". In his opinion, these parties want to "recreate a false, artificial situation."

As he said, "it gives the feeling that Spanish politicians, no matter what, have decided that confrontation and the train crash are more profitable than dialogue and agreements in the face of the upcoming elections."

"We are a party of dialogue, of agreements and if things can be put together and give stability to the institutions, we must give it to them", he said, to predict that, until May, in Madrid "six very harsh, very rough months await us. tense and very tense" and, as he has warned, "it depends on what happens on May 28 in the municipal and regional elections, then the mother of all political battles will come that will take us to the December or January elections".

In this sense, he has said that, "as much as Feijóo claims and that Abascal kicks", he does not see Sánchez "moving the date of the elections one centimeter before he can exhaust the legislature."

In addition, he added that "Sánchez would have to do things very clumsily or very badly for those of us who are giving him political cover today to take it away" because "none of us who are there supporting this government, despite the fact that we have our pluses and minuses with him, we are interested in seeing the legislature move forward, because it would only favor the PP and Vox, it would not favor the people".

Ortuzar has assured that "there are many things to do" and that 2023 is going to be "a quite complicated year", for which he has asked "not to put more uncertainties, nor more trouble on the issue and more pressure on the boiler", but who has urged to do things "as best as possible and exhaust the legislature in all areas."

On the other hand, he pointed out that "one thing remains pending from the budget agreement, which is the culmination of the Statute of Gernika." "There we are a little upset and angry at the Caribbean rhythm, at the lack of speed or diligence with which the affected ministries are leading the talks with the Basque Government in order to make the transfer of powers effective as soon as possible, which are technically good subjects that are already well studied", he said.

In this sense, he is confident that the transfer of suburban trains will arrive before the end of the year and, as he has warned, "there are other things behind it" such as "coastal management", which "technically should not be very complicated". but that "what they need is a bit of political momentum from the central government to make the transfers possible."

Regarding the disagreements between the PNV and the Socialist Party over the extension of subsidies to public transport by 2023, he has said that the jeltzale formation is going to be "like the hammer" and has criticized the position of EH Bildu who "prefers that the money be spend from Basque budgets, instead of partly coming from Spanish budgets", because this bonus "is an initial project of the Spanish Government".

"They are the ones who create the need and then withdraw the money, so if some aid is going to be extended, the logical thing would also be that this aid be extended and we are going to keep trying," he reiterated.

On the other hand, he has considered that EH Bildu casts "little shadow" on the PNV in Madrid and has said that he sees it as "an easy game and much cheaper in Madrid than in Gasteiz".

As he has stated, the way that EH Bildu has of negotiating in Madrid is "on balance" and "simply being invited to meetings and allowed to walk on the carpet is enough for them". In his opinion, "they could take more advantage of their negotiating capacity", while the PNV "continues to maintain its level" in the face of EH Bildu's 'low cost' negotiations, "and the results of each one are there to be evaluated".