The candidate for lehendakari of the PSE, Eneko Andueza (Eibar, 1979) tries to play his cards in a campaign marked by the growing bipartisan perception of Basque politics. All surveys place the socialists as the third force, as the arbiter of Basque politics who will decide who governs. The chances that a coalition government with the PNV can be reissued are high, especially if they add a majority, although Andueza avoids settling this issue and seeks to cleverly use the key to governability.
The polls give them 10-12 seats, a slight increase, and during the pre-campaign he has assured that he will not make Pello Otxandiano (EH Bildu) president. Does this mean that he will make Imanol Pradales (PNV) lehendakari?
Absolutely. We have said with whom we are not going to agree; We have not said who we are going to agree with. We prefer, first, that citizens decide where they place us and, from there, we will have to compare projects to see what points of agreement we have. That doesn’t mean it’s all done. Perhaps it is more likely that an agreement between Bildu and the PNV is advanced.
Do you see any signs that this alliance could happen?
Of course. Months ago I heard Mr. Otegi say that they were willing to reach an agreement with the PNV, and since then there have been more questions. Furthermore, every time the PNV has been asked about the issue, it has not said no. What’s more, they could even do what they did in Gipuzkoa in 2011, when Bildu won and they were allowed to govern, although the PSE offered them a government pact.
The polls give them the key to governability, although they can also be seen as a ‘crutch’ for other parties. How do you excite the electorate in such a bipartisan context?
The PSE is going to be the one who decides the future of Euskadi. We are going to be more than decisive, essential. Therefore, if the future is in our hands, the more strength we have, the greater the guarantee that the policies developed by the future Basque Government will be progressive policies. We are going to decide who will govern from April 21, but more importantly, what policies that future Basque Government will make. It seems that everyone wants to present the elections as a battle between the PNV and Bildu, but the key is not whether one or the other governs. The battle is to keep doing the same thing or change things. The PSE is the only one capable of changing things.
You, however, come from governing. How does that message of change marry with coming from a coalition government?
The policies that the PNV would have applied without the PSE would have been different. We would not have had discounts on transportation, the Education law would have been different and would have focused on national construction instead of improving students, the Climate Change law would have been different… In short, the policies, the recipes, They would have been different in terms of employment, housing, transportation, tourism… We make it possible for these policies to be directed and focused on what truly interests the people and not on the sovereignty project of PNV and Bildu.
Does its influence go beyond the three departments that have managed this legislature?
Of course. We have shown our disagreement in the Government Council on issues such as Education, Climate Policy… We said that we did not like those laws and finally our objectives were met.
What priorities would lead to an eventual Basque Government in which they could participate?
The main challenge is in healthcare and in the care model, given that we have a very important demographic challenge. Basque healthcare has seen its seams in recent years and we need to recover those leadership positions in which the socialists left Basque healthcare in the years of Patxi López. We need to shorten waiting lists, improve primary care, focus our efforts on mental health and, above all, incorporate 2,000 health personnel into Osakidteza’s structural workforce. In addition, we have to stabilize the workforce and, above all, talk a lot with professionals, since they are the ones who know first-hand what the problems and solutions are. We have a very serious open conflict in Osakidetza that needs to be resolved urgently.
Do you feel challenged by criticism in relation to the Basque Health System-Osakidetza?
Not only do we manage our departments well, but we also focus our efforts on ensuring that the governance responsibilities that our partners have are resolved well. Although we have not managed Health, we have said actively and passively what we understood had to be applied in Osakidetza to solve the problems. We have said it within the Government, in meetings between partners or in parliamentary debates or between partners. We are clear and direct.
One portfolio that they have managed is Housing, one of the main concerns in Basque society. Why do we continue to pay the highest prices for both buying and renting a home?
Perhaps we should ask that of the Basque Nationalist Party, which has been against the laws that we socialists have promoted regarding housing, both the Basque Housing Law in 2015 and the current State Housing Law. Why don’t they want to regulate prices? Why don’t they want to apply policies that help us regulate prices?
Has the PNV not allowed them to do what they would have wanted?
We have continued doing what we consider appropriate. One in every three homes under a protected regime that is built in Spain is built in the Basque Country, and more than 7,000 young people have been able to access housing thanks to aid for emancipation. We are focusing our policies on facilitating access to housing for people who have the most difficulties, especially young people. In fact, one of our electoral proposals is to increase to 50% the reserve quota for those under 36 years of age for housing under a protected rental regime. We are putting those instruments. In fact, we promoted the state Housing Law because we understood that it gave us a legal framework that allowed us, also in Euskadi, to implement policies that will precisely try to control the price of housing through the declaration of stressed areas, which are already They are starting to declare. Therefore, we have been firm defenders of implementing these instruments. It’s what we are doing in our daily lives. It seems that the PNV is not so happy about it. They do not believe in housing policies, but when they see that they give results they value that work, which is what Pradales dedicated himself to when he spoke about housing.
Even so, in the capitals and other Basque municipalities prices remain prohibitive.
These things don’t change from one day to the next. We have a long way to go to be able to regulate these prices and make housing policies. In Vienna they have been promoting protected housing policies for 100 years, we have been promoting and approving, from the opposition, the Basque Housing Law for 10 years.
In the minimum agreement between the PNV and the PSOE for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez, a series of minimums are included regarding the renewal of Basque self-government. What is the position of the PSE?
We are committed to the renewal of the Statute of Gernika, after 44 years it is time for us to protect all the social rights achieved. It is time for that, not to waste time on other things, which is what the PNV and Bildu want when they talk about a new status, which would have the right of self-determination as its axis. We want a new Statute that protects social rights, that lays the foundations for the Euskadi of the future and that is based on coexistence and plurality. We do not want to waste time or waste society’s time with other issues that divide and tension us, creating first-class and second-class Basques.
There is beginning to be speculation that the strengthening of the PP, accompanied by the decline of Vox, could lead the Popular Party to seek an understanding with Junts and, ultimately, also with the PNV. Do you see that scenario possible?
The PSOE is going to continue governing in Spain, it is going to finish the legislature and it is going to govern, at least, another one. The PNV is not interested in reaching that type of agreement with the PP, because they know that Basque society would not understand it. The PP may be interested in many things, but I don’t see the PNV there, although politically it would benefit the PSE.
