The PNV and EH Bildu will claim “the Basque nation” this Sunday during their respective Aberri Eguna events, which they celebrate a few days before the start of the campaign for the Basque elections on April 21 in which both formations are vying for hegemony in Euskadi. .
The Jeltzales will take advantage of this edition of Basque Homeland Day to mobilize their electorate, with the aim of the balance falling on their side in this event at the polls, while the sovereigntist formation will do the same to support “the change of cycle” that he has been announcing for months.
With different acts, scenarios and slogans, PNV and EH Bildu face this Aberri Eguna with the demand for “the Basque nation”, but on this occasion in a climate of electoral struggle, with their sights already set on the start of the electoral campaign in the night of April 4 to 5, which is expected to be decisive in determining whether the Jeltzales maintain leadership in Euskadi or if the sovereigntist formation gives them the surprise they proclaim. The polls point to a possible technical tie between both options, so citizen mobilization and the vote of the undecided seem essential in these elections.
In this edition of Aberri Eguna, the PNV and the formation of the sovereign left have once again chosen Bilbao and Pamplona, ??respectively, to celebrate Basque Homeland Day. The Plaza Nueva in the capital of Biscay will host the political event of the Jeltzales, in which their candidate for Lehendakari, Imanol Pradales, will have a special role, replacing Iñigo Urkullu, who will also speak alongside the president of the EBB, Andoni Ortuzar.
The motto that the PNV has chosen for this year is ‘Indar berria, Euskadi berria’ (New strength for a new Euskadi), a recurring idea in the actions of the candidate for Lehendakaritza during the pre-campaign. In this way, Imanol Pradales makes his debut this day of the Basque Homeland, after having attended as a spectator numerous rallies held by his party on the occasion of this commemoration.
Precisely, Pradales, who embodies a new generation of jeltzales, will have the challenge, as Ortuzar explained at the time, “to pilot Basque institutions and promote self-government in the next decade.”
In this sense, in his messages ahead of the elections to the Basque Parliament, Pradales has committed to “fight for more and better self-government so that Euskadi is the owner of its own future; a free Euskadi, of free women and men.”
The PNV manifesto for the Aberri Eguna of 2024 delves into the idea that “the Basque people will decide at all times what path they wish to follow in their journey towards their full freedom.” With the conviction that Euskadi is “more of a nation every day”, the Jeltzales advocate achieving a “broad consensus” in the Basque Autonomous Community to advance Basque self-government, with the aim of being able to defend it “with sufficient force” later in the State. .
Like every year, tomorrow the PNV intends to reaffirm the “identity” of the Basques as a people, their cultural uniqueness centered on their own language, Basque, and also their “collective will for differentiated existence and survival in the world.”
At the political event, which will be held at 11:30 a.m., Imanol Pradales, Iñigo Urkullu and Andoni Ortuzar will be accompanied by the secretary of the EGI national council, Beatriz Berlanga, and the head of the list for the next European elections, Oihane Agirregoitia, in a stage of 180 square meters, which will host 80 leaders, candidates and representatives of the PNV.
After the rally in the Plaza Nueva, members and militants will travel to Arenal in Bilbao to celebrate their traditional meal in which 900 members of all municipal organizations will participate, spread across 18 tables of 50 people each. A txosna will also be installed for this festive day, in which nearly fifty volunteers will work.
For its part, EH Bildu will celebrate the Aberri Eguna with the slogan ‘Nazioa gara’ to demand the “Basque nation” in Pamplona, ??where it will advocate for “a Basque republic of equal and free people”, in a clear commitment that the Basques decide “their future freely and democratically.”
In the Navarrese capital, the sovereigntist formation has prepared recreational and festive spaces and events. The highlights will be the demonstration that will start from the Golem cinemas at 12:00 p.m. and the political event that will be held in Antoniutti Park, once the march ends, in which the general coordinator of EH Bildu, Arnaldo Otegi, will intervene.
Along with the thousands of people who are expected to participate this Sunday in this Aberri Eguna, the ERC MEP, Diana Riba, and the head of international relations and the executive of the BNG, Rubén Cela, will be present.
EH Bildu aims to “demonstrate in Iruñea that Euskal Herria is a living people and that it wishes to decide its future freely and democratically”, for which it has called on citizens to participate massively in the events it has organized.
“With joy, with a party, but with the firm determination of knowing that there are thousands and thousands of citizens of this country who every day, above the imposed territorial divisions, try to permanently sew and re-sew a national project that has seven territories, which is called Euskal Herria and which deserves a different destiny and occupy a different space in the concert of nations of the world,” Otegi stated a few days ago.
As is traditional, also in the Community of Iparralde, specifically in Ustaritze, EH Bildu, together with his counterpart there, EH Bai, will again demand this Sunday “respect for the Basque nation.”
Podemos and Sumar will also carry out small events with statements on Basque Homeland Day. In 2016, the purple formation broke with the tradition that non-nationalist formations did not celebrate this day, with an act with which they wanted to claim a “right to decide” linked to social rights. In this way, he denounced that nationalism “monopolized the idea of ??homeland.” In recent times, he has limited himself to making a manifesto public.
This year, with this confederal left space divided into two ahead of the regional elections: Elkarrekin Podemos on the one hand, and Sumar on the other, both coalitions will make statements on the occasion of the Aberri Eguna.
Elkarrekin Podemos will make public a document and its candidate for lehendakari of Elkarrekin Podemos, Miren Gorrotxategi, will hold demonstrations in the Biscayan town of Durango, together with former Unidas Podemos deputy Roberto Uriarte, after attending the event to commemorate the bombing of this Biscayan town. 87 years ago.
For its part, representing the coalition made up of Sumar Mugimendua, Ezker Anitza-IU, Equo Berdeak and Más Euskadi-Euskadi Eraiki, its candidate for Lehendakaritza, Alba García, will appear in Bilbao at 11:30 am. Lander Martínez, deputy for Bizkaia in Congress, will also participate in the event.
