The appearance of the lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu, at the beginning of the Basque political course is serving to take the debate to another screen, to a point that will probably reach once the attempt to be invested by Alberto Núñez Feijóo has passed. The Basque leader proposed taking advantage of the investiture negotiation of Pedro Sánchez to promote a constitutional convention, as La Vanguardia has already stressed, which would promote a reinterpretation of the Carta Marga and, finally, serve to reformulate the State model in a plurinational key.
The acting Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, positively assessed the approach, since it "seeks balance points within the constitutional framework", but qualified that it is not the Government's proposal. Specifically, the head of the Presidency called for a "constructive debate" on the basis that it is necessary to understand each other "between different": "It seems to me a very legitimate proposal that I value, although it is not ours. I always value very positively all the proposals that are made to find points of balance, points of agreement between different parties within the constitutional framework, which is what the Lehendakari proposes”.
In this way, the Lehendakari's proposal and the Government's response allow us to advance a debate that could possibly focus Spanish political news in a matter of weeks, after the probable failure of the investiture of the popular leader. The lehendakari's approach has to do, first of all, with a reading of the political moment: "in order to form majorities in Congress, the support of the nationalist parties of Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country will be essential," he indicated.
It is there that Urkullu sees an opportunity to "solve what the Transition did not fully resolve regarding the territorial issue", advancing towards a "new State model" of a plurinational nature. The lehendakari proposes as an instrument to make this journey possible the formula of the "constitutional convention", a way used in the Anglo-Saxon political culture, especially in the United Kingdom, which would seek to agree on a new interpretation of the territorial model and, ultimately, a new consensus within the constitutional framework. The concept also connects with the historical baggage of the European Union, with references such as the Convention on the future of Europe that drafted the European Constitution.
Iñigo Urkullu proposes that this constitutional convention take place within a year and, where appropriate, raises issues such as full compliance with the statutory framework and its jurisdictional shielding; the recognition of the plurinationality of the State; the concept of bilaterality to manage self-government; or an agreement on the right to decide. The lehendakari proposes to make this reinterpretation possible by connecting with points of the Constitution such as the first additional provision (on regional territories) or the concept of nationalities. In addition, this reinterpretation of the Constitution would not require a prior modification of the Magna Carta, although it could cause it if the actors see it as essential. In any case, according to sources in the field of Law, it is "more about reinterpreting than reforming."
Critical of the perspective of "coffee for all", Urkullu mentioned the case of Euskadi - "in his case, also of Navarra -, Catalonia and Galicia in the face of this reinterpretation of the Constitution in a plurinational key. This point, however, received a reply, coming from Valencia. The leader of the PSPV and former president of the Valencian Community, Ximo Puig, agreed with Urkullu that the territorial debate should be addressed, although he proposed expanding it to other territories.
“It seems good to me that the Basque Country has that ambition, but we, the Valencians, also have our ambitions. And in any case, the territorial debate in Spain cannot focus only on Euskadi and Catalonia; not at all,” he stated. In his opinion, in any case, Spain is at the moment to "look for more federal spaces."
The proposal launched by Urkullu has provoked mixed reactions between regional leaders and those of the PSOE and PP. The president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno (PP), has defended that "it is good to talk to advance in self-government, as proposed" by the Lehendakari, but "without relegating anyone and always within the Constitution". In a note on his account on the social network X --formerly Twitter-- he has stated that "Andalusia conquered its autonomy in the same way as the rest of the historical communities and that must be respected."
His comrade in ranks, the president of the Xunta de Galicia, Alfonso Rueda, has not fully rejected the lehendakari's territorial proposal but has warned that the Galician government will fight to "avoid inequalities between territories". In the press conference after the Council of the Xunta, the president has assessed that the initiative is "on the right track" by having the Constitution as "a path, as a framework and as a limit", but he has also warned that the objective, both his As of the Xunta, it is "to avoid inequalities between territories and that the advantage of some cannot become the disadvantage of others". "That this does not mean placing some in an advantageous situation over others," he repeated.
The PSOE has also demonstrated the general secretary of the Socialist Party in Castilla y León, Luis Tudanca, to ensure that the Constitution "is untouchable" and "shields us all equally". For this reason, "if what the right wants is to suggest concessions in this matter, there will not be any, the Constitution is untouchable," he insisted.
And the spokesman for the Junta de Castilla y León, Carlos Fernández Carriedo (PP), has rejected the territorial model based on the "asymmetry" between autonomous communities, which in his opinion represents the lehendakari's proposal, because it is "the closest thing to the inequality".
