Pedro Sánchez today sent letters to the presidents of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Quim Torra, and of the Basque Government, Iñigo Urkullu, urging them to attend the Conference of Presidents to be held on Friday at the Yuso de San Millán monastery in the Cogolla (La Rioja). In the letters, he urges them to enable "the spirit of unity and commitment" that he hopes will emerge from Friday's appointment. "Your attendance at this crucial meeting is very important," he urges them.
The regional event, number 15 that has been held since the state of alarm was declared in March, will be chaired by the King of Spain, Felipe VI, and will take place in the same setting where the first meeting of regional presidents took place, in October 1992. That event served as a tribute to all the languages of the State, since the first words written in Spanish and Basque were found in San Millán.
Sánchez extends himself especially in the letter that he has addressed to Urkullu, who is a partner of the Socialists in the Basque Executive. Until now, the Lehendakari has demanded the immediate convocation of the Bilterial Commission on the Economic Agreement to attend the regional summit.
The president expresses Urkullu in the letter his "firm commitment" to the holding of the Mixed Commission "in the shortest possible time" and even expresses his intention to continue working in August so that the teams of the Government and the autonomous Executive arrive before to agreements on the deficit and debt objectives of the Basque Country "in order to set satisfactory objectives for both parties".
Then, he explains that in San Millán, where "his presence is very important", it is his intention to address the two "essential challenges" that all administrations must address: health coordination that allows controlling outbreaks and "coordinating the planning of programs associated with European reconstruction funds "to achieve" greater economic and social cohesion ".
In the two letters -although the one addressed to Torra is much shorter-, Sánchez makes an appeal to "unity and collaboration", despite the fact that the two leaders are sovereignists or independentistas. "Let us continue to demonstrate that co-governance, dialogue and cooperation are the ways that will lead us to overcome the difficult circumstances we are facing," they conclude.
After the Council of Ministers on Tuesday, the spokesperson for the Executive, María Jesús Montero, said that the attendance of Torra and Urkullu was "obligatory", given the important points that are going to be debated in La Rioja. And she closed the door on the possibility that both presidents could intervene by videoconference.
"The meeting is important enough," Montero said, "and I can't think of any reason why they shouldn't attend." An absence, he also warned, would be "a lack of respect" for the rest of the autonomous leaders.
The Catalan and Basque presidents have not attended these multilateral meetings for years precisely because they defend bilateral forums with the State and refuse to receive equal treatment with other Spanish autonomous communities.
So far, both Torra and Urkullu are inclined not to attend. However, the Government is trying to exert maximum pressure to confront both with its electorate, since the event will address two issues of highest priority for both Catalonia and the Basque Country.
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Know more- Pedro Sánchez
- The Rioja
- Quim Torra
- Basque Country
- Maria Jesus Montero
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- Philip VI
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