The agreement signed on the 3rd of last month opens up new parameters for the deunification of the Navarre quota. The Spanish State requests almost 700 million euros from the Community of Navarre, while the technical studies carried out by the Government of Navarre conclude that the contribution to be paid is 600 million euros. A simple comparison makes it clear that this calculation needs to be reviewed. In demography and GDP, the CAPV is 3.3 times more than Navarre; in terms of competences, the two communities are equal. Therefore, the contribution to be made should be around €300 million. In other words, prepare for the negotiation of the Navarrese Quartet.

When there were governments of the regime (UPN-PSN), the economic insatiability of centralism caused too many transfers to Madrid. We have had governments in Navarre that have been very hard on the citizens, but they have been very gentle towards Madrid. It cannot be doubted that independentists are the best defenders of autonomy, because they see that mere autonomy is not enough. At the same time, the so-called autonomists are the ones who support the most erroneous autonomy, mainly because they are the franchises of centralism in most cases. Alfonso Alonso, Yolanda Barcina and others are the most defenseless defenders of Basque and Navarrese autonomy.

In view of the agreement between the PP and the PNV, what comes to mind is whether many zealous citizens and militants will not repent, as they did when they supported Aznar’s investiture 20 years ago.

The second reflection goes to the contents of the 36 sections or initiatives of the agreement signed by Rajoy and Ortuzar. What is most visible and even surprising is that the main concerns of the Basque society are not addressed: 1) Peace and coexistence 2) Right to decide and reform of the Statute 3) Social policies. Most of the 36 “achievements” of this agreement are very concrete and are only compensations of an economic nature. The only ones that deviate from this nature are the first two or three points: the tax agreement, the Basque Y and the price of high-voltage electricity.

However, supporting Spain’s state budgets is a first-rate political gift to Rajoy and the PP. What the Basque Country needs is to give impetus to the three main concerns of Basque society: peace, the right to decide and social and economic policies. Like Aznar a few years ago, Rajoy has received a check of a political nature and has paid a counterbalance of an economic nature.

The artisans of peace have shown the Basque Country and the international community some of the practices that will continue to be studied in the future. The unilateral nature of the 2011 ETA decision to disarm the practice will also be discussed. Meanwhile, due to the blindness of the Rajoy government to extract political benefits from the violence, it is also being ridiculed. There is no point in not calling for a political agreement in this area.

On the other hand, the right to decide is a prerequisite for autonomous communities of foral origin, i.e. the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country and Navarre, to be able to maintain a reasonable political-constitutional link and defend these communities. Without the right to decide there is no bilateralism. The bilateral relationship that is so often mentioned today makes sense if the right to decide is recognized. Those who do not have the right to decide cannot make a covenant.

In any case, it is necessary to show that the right to decide is something that belongs to society and to the institutions that represent it; and that it cannot be divided. That is, it is not something that belongs to the parties. When the PNV negotiated competencies with Zapatero during the presidency of Patxi López, the nationalists gave the worst image of the right to decide. The quota or the contribution to be paid to the state is something that must be discussed in the institutions, regardless of the budgetary debate and the sum of the maximum possible forces. And it is desirable that this negotiation be carried out jointly by EAE and Navarre.

The agreement between the PNV and the PP has been a blow to Catalonia. The PNV has concluded an agreement with the Government of Spain when they are making their way to freedom and for this reason their institutional representatives are persecuted by the State. The inexplicable.

Although they are Organic Laws, the Statute of Gernika and the Improvement of Navarre have not been complied with in the 37 years in force. In addition, they became obsolete a long time ago. This is evidenced by the fact that funding has remained undefined until the agreement of last month 3.

These two laws are prior to accession to the European Union, which is affected by the fact that certain statutory and forensic rules have had to be amended and/or even suspended. This makes it even more obvious that they have become obsolete. For all these reasons, the renewal of the autonomy regimes for the independentists will fall short if they do not receive the right to decide and if the independentist forces also do not participate. If the right to decide is not included, if the basis of the bilateral relationship is not included, there will be no political dignity.

Patxi Zabaleta, Rebeka Ubera (Aralar)