A couple of weeks ago we announced that from LUZ we had reached 140.00 signatures of the Pensioners Movement of the Basque Country EHPM. On Thursday, 145,142 signatures were presented to the Vitoria-Gasteiz Parliament, which, as announced, arrived with a massive demonstration. The signatures came in a trailer that was pulled by a tractor. Concluding that the initiative has enjoyed "spectacular, historic support", they ask the political groups to consider their request.

Their objective is to establish a Basque system of pension formation that allows pensioners to receive at least the Spanish SMI interprofessional minimum wage – the interprofessional minimum wage is currently 1,184 euros gross, divided into 14 remunerations.

What's gonna happen now?

To begin with, they will need to validate the rubrics. Once confirmed, a plenary session of the Parliament will be convened, which will include votes on the legislative initiative. The Movement has announced that this plenary session is likely to be expected in the autumn.

The movement’s spokesman, Arturo Val del Olmo, called the collection of signatures “spectacular” and said that, if the legislative initiative were to continue, 100,000 pensioners would benefit, in which 65,000 are women. He also said it was worth the effort to "improve the lives of the most precarious pensioners" and "reduce the wage gap".

Since the petition is "fair" and economically "feasible" and "acceptable", it is addressed to President Imanol Pradales to request that it be granted a favorable criterion for its processing taking into account the number of signatures.

The movement said: "The expansion and reception of this popular initiative is unprecedented and has generated a lot of hope in broad sectors of Basque society because it responds to the need to empower clearly poor pensions." The Pensioners’ Movement of the Basque Country has made it clear that it will continue to fight for the legislative initiative.