PNV and EH Bildu have used the 'Aberri Eguna' to wrap their electoral battle next May with sovereigntist messages. In Navarre, supporters of Arnaldo Otegi have launched cries of 'independentzia' before their leader called on the Spanish "transformative left" to "respect the right to free self-determination". Otegi has recognized in Pamplona the importance of Navarre in the political project to achieve a "Basque Republic". Meanwhile, in Bilbao, the PNV has also taken advantage of the 'Aberri Eguna' to defend its strategy of working for sovereignty "day by day" especially from the Basque institutions and with "self-government" as a claim.

EH Bildu has returned today to chant the cries of 'independentzia' through the streets of Pamplona, its most important political objective in the local and regional elections in the regional community. Those of Otegi have organized a demonstration prior to a political rally in which, in addition to the general coordinator of EH Bildu, the candidate for the presidency of the Regional Government Laura Aznal and the coordinator of Sin Feinn Declan Kearney have also intervened.

"Euskal Herria is a nation and has the right of self-determination", defended Otegi from the stage surrounded by candidates for the town councils and councils of the Basque Country and the consistories and the Government of Navarra. Otegi focused his speech on two "interpellations" that mark the bases of the political strategy of the Abertzale left. On the one hand, the one addressed to PSOE and Podemos as an "update" of the proposal that he already moved in 2016 after leaving the Logroño prison to recognize the "right to free self-determination". On the other, its commitment to "lock up country agreements" on "a path to sovereignty and a society of equals."

The leader of Bildu has also welcomed the end of the dispersion of ETA prisoners, which he calls "political prisoners" and has advocated a "future" without imprisoned terrorist inmates or "refugees".

The president of the PNV Andoni Ortuzar has recovered from his closet the 'kaiku' to wear an 'Aberri Eguna' (Day of the Basque Homeland) marked by the electoral battle he maintains with EH Bildu a month and a half before the regional and municipal elections of May 28. The jacket used by the shepherds, converted in the decade of the 20s of the last century into a sign of nationalist identity, has allowed Ortuzar to also recover the sovereigntist profile. "We work our sovereignty day by day, especially in the Basque institutions", he stressed with the aim of achieving a "European Euskadi nation".

Andoni Ortuzar fears that the electoral victory of the PNV that the polls predict will demobilize its bases. He knows that the main enemy for his candidates for deputy general and mayors is abstention and today in the Plaza Nueva in Bilbao he has used words and symbols to activate his faithful parish. "It has to be noted that we are the PNV," Ortuzar justified to clarify why the 'kaiku' had been placed. An aesthetic and dialectical wink in front of EH Bildu but also in front of the reality of Artificial Intelligence with the capacity to generate political messages.

The leader of the PNV has used 'classic' references of Basque sovereignty to appeal to the Europeanist vocation of his party but, in addition, as a political space to achieve "the freedom of Euskadi". A message embodied in the institutional strategy led by Lehendakari Urkullu with initiatives such as the Atlantic macro-region with which he intends to strengthen the role of autonomous communities and regions and reduce the centralism of the governments of Spain and France.

In fact, neither Ortuzar nor Urkullu have made practically references to Spanish politics – where the PNV is the most faithful partner of the PSOE although it distrusts Podemos – to emphasize its defense of "self-government" in the development of a "Country", the noun most used in their interventions. Ortuzar, always witty, has warned the nationalist sympathizers that those of the PNV are the "authentic abertzales" against the "transformists" of EH Bildu. "They are the 'mani' ... even if they wear Armani. Let's remember!", he stressed during his speech.

  • PNV
  • Bildu
  • France
  • PSOE
  • Can
  • Ministry of Defence
  • Government of Spain
  • Andoni Ortuzar
  • Elections Basque Country

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