The spokesperson for EH Bildu in Congress, Mertxe Aizpurua, has criticized the Secretary General of the PSE-EE, Eneko Andueza, for trying to "establish a totally false dichotomy" by accusing the sovereigntist coalition and the PNV of promoting a "national priority". As she emphasized, the pact to modify the Public Employment Law seeks to "broaden rights".
In an interview on Radio Euskadi, reported by Europa Press, Aizpurua rejected the words spoken this past Tuesday by the socialist leader, who defended the "social priority" of PSOE policies against the "national priority" of PP and Vox and also "the one they want to build from nationalism", referring, among other issues, to the agreement reached by EH Bildu and PNV regarding the Public Employment Law.
"Trying to establish a false dichotomy may be a display of political drive, but it does not really conform to reality. It is a totally false dichotomy," stated the EH Bildu deputy. She explained that the pact to reform the Public Employment Law regarding linguistic requirements aims to "broaden rights" for all citizens, as it is "a fact" that "Basque speakers are not in the same conditions as Spanish speakers".
In her opinion, "it is not prioritizing in any case" and it is about "social rights also that must be maintained in favor of Basque" and those who use it. "The approach that has been made obeys this objective of having rights for speakers and also having facilities to learn Basque for anyone who wants to do so," she reiterated.
Regarding the possibility of sealing new agreements after the one reached between EH Bildu and PNV on the Public Employment Law, she stated that "hopefully so" because, in "a small country" that must "face many very transcendental issues", there are "many basic issues" on which it would be necessary to "reach an agreement". In the words of Mertxe Aizpurua, "it should be an exercise of responsibility for all parties that believe in this country".
Risk of a right-wing government
Along the same lines, she defended the convenience of joining forces through joint lists in the general elections "on the eve of a serious risk that everyone sees, which may be that the right and the far-right come to the government of Spain", something that, in her opinion, would be "very bad news" both for Basque society and for the State as a whole.
"We must act," he/she has claimed, in the face of an "emergency situation" and "take everything very seriously" in order to "take measures that in some way protect the future and daily life of this country."
For this reason, he/she considers that the president of the PNV, Aitor Esteban, —who this Tuesday accused EH Bildu of intending "the bear hug"— "is mistaken in making these proposals." After recalling that he/she has never "trashed the PNV," he/she has assured that he/she does not understand why Esteban "usually gets very angry each time" EH Bildu launches proposals of this type.
In this context, he/she has remarked that "there are issues that must be kept out of political bickering" and about which there is "much to discuss" and has underlined that EH Bildu "does not make these proposals to put the PNV in a bind at all," but rather "looking at what Euskal Herria needs."