Basque Country: attacks on PP headquarters, assaults on Nuevas Generaciones and seven injured ertzainas

The Ertzaintza is the autonomous police force of Euskadi, with the mission to protect people and their property, guarantee rights and freedoms, and maintain citizen security and public order in the Basque territory. It acts as a general and comprehensive police force, but its competencies coexist with those reserved for the State and with the powers of local police forces.

Legal framework and dependency

Its main basis is Article 17 of the Statute of Autonomy, approved by the Organic Law 3/1979. It is developed by the Legislative Decree 1/2020, which approves the consolidated text of the Basque Country Police Law, and the Law 15/2012, on the Organization of the Public Security System of Euskadi.

The supreme command corresponds to the Basque Government. The department responsible for security exercises the chief and superior direction, organizes services, and plans and coordinates its activity.

Main functions

• Protection and citizen security. Protect the free exercise of rights and freedoms, preserve peaceful coexistence, and protect people and their property throughout the autonomous community.
• Public order. Maintain it within the Basque territory, in accordance with Article 17 of the Statute and respecting fundamental rights.
• Criminal investigation and judicial police. Perform functions of crime investigation and assistance to Justice according to procedural laws. Article 36 of the Statute establishes that, when acting as judicial police, it is at the service and under the dependency of the Administration of Justice.
• Administrative police. Carry out police actions of surveillance and enforcement of regulations within its competence. The consolidated text expressly includes this area along with citizen security, criminal investigation, and operational resources.
• Assistance and emergencies. Provide help in accidents, public calamities, or particular situations of danger or helplessness. The duty to intervene in defense of the law and citizen security also applies to personnel off duty.

Coordination and regional functions

Coordination with the National Police and Civil Guard is organized through the Security Board, equally composed of representatives from the State and Euskadi. Law 15/2012 allows agreements with local police for mutual collaboration, task distribution in indistinct functions, and provision of joint services, respecting the powers of each force.

Within the Ertzaintza, the Miñones, Forales, and Mikeletes sections represent the regional institutions, protect their authorities, and guard their heritage. They also assist other units and may perform road transport surveillance and inspection and road maintenance and police functions. For their regional duties, they depend functionally on the corresponding provincial council.

Limits and guarantees

The Statute reserves to the State the extracommunity and supracommunity police services, including port, airport, coast, and border surveillance; customs; entry and exit from national territory; general immigration regime, extradition and expulsion; emigration and immigration; passports and ID cards; arms and explosives; fiscal guard, smuggling, and tax fraud against the State. The status as an integral police force does not eliminate these reservations.

The Organic Law 2/1986 recognizes this singular statutory regime and declares its basic principles of action applicable. The Ertzaintza must act with neutrality, impartiality, and without discrimination; use force according to criteria of adequacy, necessity, and proportionality; and reject manifestly criminal or unlawful orders. The Statute also contemplates cases of State intervention in public order and specific rules for states of alarm, exception, and siege.

To legally call a general strike in Spain, requirements of legitimacy, agreement on the call, prior notice, and organization must be met. Government authorization is not required: the strike is a fundamental right recognized in Article 28.2 of the Constitution. Its basic regulation is found in Royal Decree-Law 17/1977, interpreted and partially refined by the Constitutional Court Judgment 11/1981.

1. Who can call it

Workers can promote a strike through their representatives or directly, as well as unions with presence in the area to which the call extends. In a general strike, the calling organizations must have presence in that area; there is no general requirement that all unions call it nor that they be the most representative.

The decision to participate corresponds individually to each worker. It is not necessary to be affiliated with the calling union, nor that each company hold a vote to join a valid general call.

2. Agreement and purpose of the call

The call must come from an agreement adopted by those legitimized, respecting the applicable rules of their organization. When agreed directly by workers or their representatives, the corresponding decision and documentation conditions must be observed.

Additionally, it must pursue the defense of workers' interests. A general strike can be directed against government decisions on employment, wages, pensions, or social protection: criticizing the Government does not automatically make it illegal. It is different if it responds to exclusively political motives, unrelated to workers' professional interests, a case that the regulation considers illegal.

There are also limits regarding strikes that intend to alter what was agreed during the validity of a collective agreement, although those limits do not prevent any conflict related to its interpretation or unforeseen circumstances.

3. Written communication and prior notice

The call must be communicated in writing to the labor authority and affected employers. In a general strike, employer communication can be articulated through the corresponding business organizations, without necessarily requiring individual notification to each company.

• Ordinary term: at least five calendar days before the start.
• Public services: at least ten calendar days when the strike affects companies responsible for providing them. Additionally, necessary publicity must be given so users know about the call.

The communication must indicate the objectives, efforts made to resolve differences, start date, and composition of the strike committee. It is advisable to precisely delimit its territorial, functional, and temporal scope to identify who it affects and for what period.

4. Strike committee and negotiation

A strike committee, with a maximum of twelve members, must be constituted to represent workers during the conflict. In a call covering multiple centers, the rules on its composition must be interpreted according to constitutional jurisprudence, without mechanically transferring the requirements of a single-center strike.

From the prior notice and during the strike, there is a duty to negotiate to try to reach an agreement. Necessary actions must also be guaranteed for the safety of people and facilities and for their subsequent resumption.

5. Essential services and freedom of participation

If it affects essential services for the community, the government authority may establish motivated and proportionate minimum services. These do not equate to prior authorization nor allow emptying the right to strike. Both peaceful participation and the freedom of those who decide to work must be respected; violence and coercion are not supported.

The latest regional elections in the Basque Country were held on April 21, 2024. The Popular Party obtained 7 seats in a Basque Parliament composed of 75 representatives. EAJ-PNV and EH Bildu tied with 27 seats each, although the PNV was the most voted candidacy.

Results by party

The distribution of the 75 seats was divided among six candidacies. These were the results that gave rise to the XIII Legislature of the Basque Parliament, whose constitutive session was held on May 14, 2024, as reported by Demócrata:

• EAJ-PNV: 27 seats. Shared first place in number of representatives with EH Bildu. The parliamentary tie was not a tie in votes: the PNV obtained more votes.
• EH Bildu: 27 seats. Reached the same representation as the PNV, so both candidacies jointly gathered 54 of the 75 seats in the Chamber.
• PSE-EE (PSOE): 12 seats. Was the third candidacy by parliamentary representation, behind the two formations tied at the top.
• Popular Party: 7 seats. Occupied fourth place by number of representatives and gained presence in the three Basque electoral constituencies.
• Sumar: 1 seat. Obtained parliamentary representation with a single seat in the Chamber.
• Vox: 1 seat. Also secured a representative, thus completing the total distribution of the 75 seats.

The seven seats of the Popular Party

The specific answer to your second question is, therefore, seven parliamentarians. Their territorial distribution was four from Álava, two from Bizkaia, and one from Gipuzkoa. Álava thus contributed more than half of the representatives obtained by the PP, while the other three came from the other two constituencies. Official results can be consulted at the Central Electoral Board.

Regarding the entire Chamber, those seven seats represent approximately 9.3% of the seats. This percentage only expresses their parliamentary weight: it should not be confused with the percentage of votes received. In terms of representation, the PP was five seats behind the PSE-EE and twenty behind each of the two candidacies that led the distribution.

What the distribution meant for forming government

With 75 parliamentarians, the absolute majority is set at 38 seats. Neither the PNV nor EH Bildu reached that figure separately: each lacked eleven representatives. The sum of the PNV and PSE-EE, however, reached 39 seats, one above the absolute majority.

The configuration resulting from the polls allowed the subsequent election of Imanol Pradales as lehendakari on June 20, 2024, with the agreement between PNV and PSE-EE. That agreement was signed the day before, according to the information published by the PNV. The seven seats of the PP were not necessary for both formations to jointly surpass the absolute majority threshold.

In short, the essential fact is this: the Basque elections of April 2024 resulted in a tie of 27 seats between PNV and EH Bildu, followed by PSE-EE with 12 and the PP with 7; Sumar and Vox obtained one each.