The clock for the formation of the new Basque Parliament and also the future Basque Government has started this Monday, after the prerequisite of the accreditation of a third of the parliamentarians has been met. Specifically, this Monday the 27 representatives of the PNV were accredited, with Imanol Pradales, the probable future lehendakari, at the head, and, consequently, with more than a third of the 75 parliamentarians having been accredited, the constitution of the new Parliament Basque should be produced in the next 15 days.
The PNV parliamentarians have taken over from the sole representative of Sumar, Jon Hernández, and the only representative of Vox, Amaia Martínez, who were accredited on Monday. The 27 representatives of EH Bildu, the 12 of the PSE and the 7 of the PP will be accredited between tomorrow and Thursday.
From there, the probable date for the plenary session of the constitution of the new Basque Parliament, when the 75 parliamentarians will take possession of the minutes, is May 14. This session will be led in principle by an Age Board, until the formation of the new Basque Parliament Board is resolved, an issue under negotiation between the PNV and PSE, and the appointment of the president of the Basque Legislature. It is most likely that Bakartxo Tejeria, from the PNV, will be re-elected to this position, since the Jeltzales have made it clear that they are not willing to give up this position.
The regulations of the Basque Parliament indicate that after the constitution plenary session, a plenary session on incompatibilities must be held, in which the Provisional Commission on Incompatibilities will be appointed. This session will be held before May 24, the day the campaign for the European elections begins.
From then on, the implementation of the new Basque legislature will stop as a result of the campaign, although the negotiations between the PNV and the PSE for the formation of the new Basque Government will not.
The Jeltzales and the Socialists began negotiations on the 29th to close a legislative agreement and the distribution of portfolios in the future Basque Executive, chaired by Imanol Pradales and with councilors from the PNV and the PSE. The probable future lehendakari limited himself this Monday to pointing out, before being accredited in the Basque Parliament, that the negotiations with the socialists “are going well”, although avoiding going into details.
The truth is that this dialogue is marked by the greater demands on the part of the socialists, who managed to make the most of an increase of just half a point, obtaining two more seats, and feel in a position of strength to demand a greater presence in the future Basque Government.
During the recently concluded legislature, the PNV has held, in addition to the lehendakaritza and the spokesperson, eight other departments, while the socialists have had three councilors – now in office -, in charge of the Labor and Employment portfolios; Territorial Planning, Housing and Transportation; and, thirdly, Tourism, Commerce and Consumption. Four years ago, however, the correlation had been 31 to 10 seats, and now it is 27 for the PNV compared to 12 for the socialists. The PSE aspires to add power by managing a portfolio of maximum relevance such as Health, Security or Education. The question is how far the Jeltzals are willing to go in this negotiation.
The imminent future of Basque politics, therefore, is settled at that negotiation table between the Basque nationalists and the socialists, which has a wide time margin to negotiate (the possibilities of blockade or electoral repetition are minimal). Not in vain, in the PNV they work with the time horizon of an investiture in mid-June and it is not clear if they will wait for the European election campaign to pass to uncover the cards they will be left with after the negotiation.