How would you summarize the first 100 days in a headline?

After 105 days the city is back to work.

How do you remember December 28?

It was a very exciting day. These days are very nice. We received that day with a lot of expectations. With a new feeling. The other day [2015] we said we didn't want to be an anecdote in the history of the city. Now he said things will change for a long time. All this takes shape on 28 December. It was very nice. People were great on the street.

Comparing the 2015 and 2023 admonitions…

They were the same illusions, but I want to underline one thing: this is not the second part of anything. The 2015-2019 legislature had its role to show Pamplona the existence of a new way of doing things. That was very important. The seed planted in those days has flourished now. And it will last in time.

In order to remain in time you need PSN, for the moment. What political importance does it attach to the change of position of the PSN in Pamplona?

It was very important. What has now been achieved is to reach an agreement and to create a model after having historically been behind its back, I do not know how many years. In addition, this model will be exportable over time and will remain in time. That also has its laps. We are at a time of broad consensus, we have to reach broad consensus and for that we have to be very generous.

Did the PSN decide by conviction or forced PSOE?

I think he has been convinced. They told us that. They should be asked about the internal reflection they have come to. I have seen that fertilization has been done here, that pregnancy has been managed here and that the baby has been born here.

It says it is an exportable model, but it has not been taken to other municipalities in Nafarroa Garaia. Why?

The past shows us that we must have strategic patience and that one value is discretion. What we need to do is work. I always say: when did it start to grow, to manage the current change? Surely that very night we heard “Goodbye, Assorted!” That same week we started working and after a few years that work has borne fruit.

Will the model be exportable to the CAPV?

I'd like to think that way. It will be exportable everywhere. As we show that this works, you'll see that it can be exported slowly. In the CAPV and in all institutions.

Are you satisfied with the agreements reached with the PSN and with Geroa Bai and Zurekin?

Very happy, ten from zero to ten. That is the only way forward. Arithmetic gives no other way. Of course I preferred EH Bildu to have an absolute majority, but we know that's not possible. With the best results of EH Bildu of all time we have eight councillors since 27. And the Pamplona X-ray looks like this. We have formed the group of Christ with these eight councillors, but to get the majority we have to leave our office and go to others, something we cannot forget for a minute.

I believe, modestly, that in the agreement with the PSN the Basque Country is mentioned quite diffusely. They say it will be promoted, but respecting the socio-linguistic reality. What is your reading? How far can you go? What are you going to do?

In social policies and in other areas it will be very easy to reach agreement with the PSN, but it is clear that in linguistic policy we are further away. We will have to act as regards the Basque country, doing a lot of work, a lot of pedagogy and sometimes with patience. So we will gradually reach consensus. We always say that the important thing is to extend the rights of the Basques, and that is what we are doing. We are in the process of processing. Having patience and playing with pedagogy, we will achieve things. I'm sure.

Citing concrete measures?

The programme agreement says that we are going to draw up a standardisation plan. That is what we are going to do and it is time to write and concretize. I can say that steps have been taken in these hundred days. For example, with regard to the media, Enrique Maia eliminated the means of inserting institutional advertising in the Basque media. And we've solved it. We will allocate 20% of institutional advertising to the media in Basque, because we believe that the Basques also have the right to receive publicity from their institutions.

In the last legislature there was very restrictive regulation around the Basque country, but UPN did not comply either. For compliance, we have met with those in charge of all areas to ensure bilingual status in all areas. We have extended the budget of the Euskera Service and increased the scholarships to learn Euskera to EUR 10,000. This means that all those requested will be delivered. That is what we have achieved in a hundred days. From now on we will do more.

The Administrazioa Euskaraz group denounces that in the first call for employment you have made, to complete the lists of substitutions for administrative officers, you have not valued Euskera as merit. Why? What happened?

That too needs to be clarified. Sometimes they don't match how things happen and how they count. Firstly, what is being done is a provisional list to replace the summer holidays. Why? Because so far there was no one on the list and it was not possible to guarantee that workers on holiday in summer have a substitute. We needed a fast procedure, and to be able to do it quickly, instead of doing it through a competition, we did it in opposition, and in competitions you can't value merits, you can't count the Basque or any other merit. This is what we have done when we have already ensured that the replacement of the Euskera staff will be carried out by the Euskera staff. But to fill the final posts, of course the Basque will be merit, as it should be.

He talked about homeless people the day he took office. What have you achieved these hundred days?

We've done a lot of work, but we can't talk about accomplishments, because we can't put any medal while a person sleeps in the street. We double the resources. When we entered there was a refuge with 58 places and today there are two with 112. In addition, there are more sleeping tickets in bed and breakfast. But something we have seen: we are far from reaching a solution, because it is a global problem, because in 100% of Pamplona it cannot be solved.

From the media right, a number of people have insisted that they stay overnight and that homeless people are sent out by bus.

It's also very curious. The award of bus tickets is a resource for assistance to homeless people travelling around, and is a measure included in the Municipal High Exclusion Ordinance, in its article 8, to guarantee the voluntary return of these people to the place of registration. They know [the authorities of the UPN], and Mrs Ibarrola especially well, because in the last legislature, when Navarra Suma and Maia ruled, 2,800 bus tickets were distributed; and in 2023, between Maya and Ibarrola, in total, 1,197. The real question is, how is it possible that they want to make headlines what they themselves did? How moral is there in a person who can do it?

Progress is being made with the works of the Beloso corridor, although they will involve cutting more than 100 trees. The Gurelur Association and Qatar Zuhaizti have asked you to abandon it as an environmental barbarity.

There is no other remedy. It cannot be abandoned. From the outset we have said that it is not our project. I recall that in the May plenary President Borja Izagirre explained in plenary that EH Bildu did not see this project as appropriate and that there were other alternatives. You know that the project was drafted by the Government of Navarra and that Enrique Maia signed an agreement with the government approving tree cuts. After the elections, Ibarrola tendered and awarded this project. Since then, he had not regressed. We find it designed, licensed and awarded. Once abandoned, we would lose EUR 4 million from the Next Generation European fund, we would have to compensate the companies concerned and we would enter into prevarication. What can we do? Minimise potential effects. Gardening services have been asked to analyse which trees can be replanted. By December 2024 all trees have been replanted. And we're looking at how to fix the effects of traffic. But we can do no more than that.

Most memorial societies have asked for the demolition of the Fall Monument. What are you going to do?

We want to continue with our script. We took the first steps [in the 2015 legislature]: desbirios and change of name of the plaza of the sinister Count Rodezno. We continue with the same intention. We have to do something important. We organised an international competition of ideas. Very nice ideas came out. There are seven projects selected. And among them are all possibilities, including resignification and demolition, at different levels. What we have to do now is continue with this and give people a voice. If the total demolition proposed by these memorialist societies is the most consensual, we will continue with it.

Many memorialist associations are victim associations. Is it not particularly important that resignification is not possible?

The Monument to Falls and the Plaza de la Libertad is a very special and important place in Pamplona. There may be very different positions here. You may be in favor of the demolition, of leaving it as I am and of the resignification of the technicians. That is why we must talk to each other and reach an agreement. Furthermore, given that the problem is not only a memorial but also an urban one.

The Housing Plan will be one of the axes of the legislature. What do they propose?

The housing plan foresees the construction of 1200-1600 homes in the next eight years. Of these, 800 are for social rent and youth. We want to create a special figure for youth emancipation. Apart from that, there is the development of Donapea. There, 5,000 homes will be built, and we hope that half will be protected. In addition, we will increase housing rehabilitation subsidies to four million. Housing is a very serious problem. The pressure of the houses at the moment is located in Pamplona as a historical maximum, with no perspective of descent. An impressive fact: the average age of emancipation in Pamplona is 29.4 years. We must help to find a solution to this.

They have also launched the rehabilitation of Sarasate. What are you going to do?

It is a pity how it is right now. There is a kind of trench separating the Old Town from the Ensanche. It's a great opportunity, more than a problem. The project is already underway. We hope that the works will begin on 1 January and end in the spring of 2026.

The 2024 budgets have just been approved. It should be normal, but it cannot be forgotten that in the last decade very few budgets have been approved in the City Hall.

Over the past eight years, the accounts have come forward once, and they did so with tricks and lies, during the pandemic. The PSN decided to help in the emergency get the budgets through and then regretted. The right shows that she's isolated and she can't get her out of that isolation. It is up to us to show that things can be done differently. I know that budgets are not a very dear subject for citizens, but those of us in the institutions know that it is essential, vital.

As for the Sanfermines, you will still not throw the sucking.

2015 [warning] was my sucking. On 28 December, another. And there's also a great privilege that you can take away and you can leave it in the hands of someone who is most worth deciding.

Was it another succinct to bring the witness in the Korrika in the town hall square?

On the day of the race, I saw I keep the ability to get excited. In my throat, I got a big knot. I remember before I was in the Basque Country Korrika, in the Artaxona area, with my brother. After a few years, the transfer of the witness to Pamplona as mayor was very special.

Will there be political barracks in San Fermin?

I don't know if there's a lawsuit. There is much discussion about the spaces of San Fermin. As in everything, the last word will come out of the Mesa de San Fermín. The table brings together 100 associations forming the soul of the Sanfermines. What comes out of there is for us the Bible.

But will there be room for the Sanfermines?

It is pending and will be decided in that forum.

Rakel Arjole, the new president of the Federation of Peñas, states that he is against bulls. So what?

I don't know why, but every media asks me about bulls. I always answer the same thing, because I have no other answer, even if we know that this produces contradictions. In the 21st century, organizing leisure around the suffering of animals does not take place. When I say this, the bulls' advocates give me the wood. But at the same time I say that it is clear to me that at the moment we cannot imagine the sanfermines without representing them. Where does that take us? Reflect. What do we do with the Sanfermines? I am very clear that this debate must be held on the street, and not in these halls [in the city hall]. This decision cannot be taken by a mayor.

But it's clear that we have to rethink sanfermines.

Yes, no doubt. The Sanfermines are not 100 years ago. The Sanfermines have always been a reflection of society. Like art. As society evolves, sanfermines must evolve. And when this happens, institutions will have to give an adequate response to the evolution of the street.

What will happen on 7 July in Kuria Street? The agreement with the SNP refers to that moment.

Nothing. I hope. I always say that in Pamplona all people have the right to move on the streets without being offended. Also the councillors. Also in San Fermín. Also on Kuria Street.

You're a professor. What note does it give to the first 100 days?

From zero to ten, I'd put about nine. Not me, but our work teams. Some nine of my group's councillors. Also to those of Geroa Bai and to You.

The ones of Geroa Bai say you are very pragmatic and enabling, like the ones of Geroa Bai.

Yes? I don't know how to take it, but we're definitely different. And that is what merit is.