The president of the EBB of the PNV, Aitor Esteban, expressed this Thursday his conviction that the state legislature “has come to an end” and addressed the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to assure that “the general interest demands elections this year.” In addition, he reiterated that his party does not consider a motion of no confidence and asked the head of the Executive for reflection because “many things have happened this week,” but “more will happen.”
Esteban made these statements before participating, at the headquarters of the Sabino Arana Foundation in Bilbao, in the seminar “Made in Europe: strategic autonomy and industrial competitiveness for Euskadi,” also with the participation of Oihane Agirregoitia, MEP.
The jeltzale leader considered that the focus on the continuity of the legislature should not be placed on the parties that supported the investiture, as has been done lately, but rather it should be placed “on the president and on the responsibility he has in ensuring the proper governability of the institutions.”
In his opinion, “the truth” is that we are living “a situation that is not at all suitable for governability, nor for the general interest” because there are no budgets “nor possibilities for them to pass, with an absolutely blocked legislature, because there is really no effective activity in the Chamber, there are no possibilities of a majority, with a political environment ”like the one experienced and with more and more judicial cases.”
After referring to the entry this past Wednesday of the UCO into the PSOE headquarters in Madrid, Esteban considered that this will be continuous, “because the very mechanics of judicial cases lead to them being maintained for a time.”
In addition, he referred to the statements made yesterday from Rome by Pedro Sánchez about not being able to dissolve the chambers and call elections “for a partisan interest, that he has to act on behalf of the general interest.”
“In the opinion of the PNV, the general interest in this situation demands the electoral call this year, because maybe he should also ask himself, if by refusing again and again to reflect on this, he is not also acting from a partisan and particular interest,” he added.
“For all the circumstances that occur,” Aitor Esteban believes that “the legislature has come to an end, it should be so.” “But the one who has the responsibility to make decisions, given these circumstances, is the president himself. It is not enough to say that the Constitution says that four years is the duration of a legislature,” he pointed out in reference to Sánchez’s words to justify the extension of his mandate.
In this regard, he recalled that article 115 of the Magna Carta “also says that the president of the Government has the faculty, the power to dissolve the chambers, and it will not be the first time it is done.” “I think we have to reflect on what the situation is and it is up to him to take this step,” he stated.
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Esteban warned that one cannot think “that summer will come, we have a World Cup, circumstances will change from September, etc.” “No, this leads nowhere. It seems to me that from an objective, general, dispassionate examination of the situation, what corresponds, and that is what the PNV is telling him, is that this year should be the year of the dissolution of the chambers. It is up to him to carry it out,” he insisted.
No to the motion of no confidence
The president of the EBB reiterated that a motion of no confidence is not on the PNV’s table and is not considered. “We believe that what must be done is to act responsibly on the part of everyone, and especially by those who have the highest institutional responsibility in the State, which is the president,” he indicated.
As he recalled, this is not only said by his party, but there are “more voices” demanding it. “I think we are saying it, people who are always betting on governability and trying to help the stability of the institutions, but to act like an ostrich or close your eyes and nothing happens here, well, honestly, it does not seem the most responsible to me,” he warned.
If elections are not brought forward, he emphasized that “day by day things are happening in the political and parliamentary environment.” “We will see what happens, and how the political language and the positions of each party will evolve. Then, we also do not know how all that judicial plane will evolve,” he pointed out.
The PNV leader said that many things “have happened” in the last week, but “more will happen.” We will see how all this develops. What we have tried to do is a realistic picture of what is happening and what would be responsible in institutional terms. But, from there, we will see how all this develops,” he stressed.
Asked what he would think if it is confirmed that the PSOE created ‘a sewer’ to go against judges, prosecutors, and the Civil Guard, he replied that not only he but everyone would consider that “it is not acceptable.” “It is a question with a simple answer, if all that were confirmed,” he concluded.
Esteban, in a brief meeting with the media, recalled that it is up to the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to dissolve the Cortes, and that a motion of no confidence is not on the PNV’s table. “We do not consider it,” he assured.
He recalled that the current legislature is “blocked,” without budgets and in a political environment dominated by “more and more judicial cases” and that “it is not responsible to act like an ostrich.”
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