The president of the PP Alberto Núñez Feijóo yesterday in Gernika defended “autonomism” as the political formula endorsed by the Constitution and tested during the last forty years of democracy in Spain. An all-out defense of autonomous Spain confronted by the “plurinational Spain” demanded by the Basque and Catalan independence parties willing to support Pedro Sánchez with a new investiture.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo framed his defense of “autonomism” in the Palacio de las Juntas of Gernika where the tree that symbolizes the Basque charters is located. The leader of the Basque Popular Party participated in the event commemorating the 44th anniversary of the approval of a Statute that in Euskadi is only celebrated by the PP and the Basque PSOE. After presiding over an honorary aurresku and before listening to the official anthem of Euskadi, Feijóo demanded that his institutional and organic officials “defend and practice autonomism.”
The leader of the PP wanted yesterday to “claim Basque autonomy” when the pro-independence parties raise their “minimum” demands to support an investiture of Pedro Sánchez but, at the same time, when the Basque PP itself faces the replacement of Carlos Iturgaiz by Javier de Andrew. Feijóo in Euskadi not only displayed his “constitutional Galicianism” but also praised the Statute of Gernika as a guarantee of respect for “one’s own identity”, “citizen coexistence” and its “inclusion in other political frameworks” like the Spanish Constitution.
Feijóo’s emphasis on “autonomism” as an instrument of political and social cohesion becomes one of the pillars of the PP’s argument in the face of Sánchez’s negotiations with Junts, ERC and EH Bildu, the independence partners that demand self-determination referendums and the amnesty for those accused of the Catalan separatist process. The leader of the PP described yesterday in the Basque Country as “ignonymy” that the political future of Spain could be in the hands of Arnaldo Otegi – whom he did not expressly mention – after the publication by EL MUNDO of the police documentation that links him to half a dozen of kidnappings and a murder.
But, in addition, Feijóo wondered “what gesture Bildu has had with the victims of ETA” or those that the pro-independence parties have had with the “Catalans accused of demonstrating against” the process. “Neither the PP nor the Basque PP will ever leave these citizens alone,” Feijóo emphasized when remembering “victims” of terrorism and the political exclusion imposed in Catalonia and the Basque Country.
Feijóo’s presence in Euskadi – hours before he had participated as a speaker at the Family Business Congress that was inaugurated by King Felipe VI – also allowed him to close the open wound in the Basque PP since February 2020. Then, the president of the Pablo Casado forced the departure of Alfonso Alonso from the party and asked Carlos Iturgaiz to be the candidate for lehendakari when there was barely a month left before the elections were held.
Three and a half years later, Feijóo drew applause from his party colleagues when he made public his “unconditional support for the PP of Euskadi and not the PP in Euskadi.” A symbolic play on words that amended the expression used by Casado but, above all, that at least formally allows Javier de Andrés to claim Basque self-government with winks such as the reading in Basque of one of the articles of the Basque Statute.
Starting next November 4, De Andrés will assume the presidency of the Basque PP in a congress by acclamation planned by Feijóo and Carlos Iturgaiz, who yesterday starred in his last public act as president of the Popular Basques.
“The Statute constitutes the most important agreement between Basques in our history,” defended Iturgaiz in an intervention aligned with Feijóo’s “autonomism” but in which he included harsh criticism of the management of the Basque Government chaired by Iñigo Urkullu.
In fact, Feijóo came to recognize the “legitimacy” of nationalist aspirations and defended that “coexistence is possible” on the condition that nationalists do not want to “impose” themselves on the rest. The leader of the PP left aside the criticism of the PNV and even ignored his objective of capturing the disenchanted nationalist vote in Gernika that he used against the Basque nationalists during the debate of his failed investiture.
Feijóo also did not reveal any clues about his brief conversation with Urkullu within the framework of the Family Business Congress held at the Euskalduna palace in Bilbao. The leader of the PP did share in his speech before the directors of family businesses that European funds must be “territorialized” to guarantee that they reach SMEs, an argument also used by Urkullu.
The Lehendakari expressly valued the role of employers on the same day that he warned of the risks of union “populism” in the Basque Country. On the eve of two consecutive days of strike in Basque education – today Tuesday – and in all public services – tomorrow Thursday -, Urkullu denounced the “irresponsible” and “dangerous” attitude of the Basque unions that convey with their mobilizations an “image “catastrophic” of Euskadi to harm the PNV electorally.
