The president of the PNV, Antoni Ortuzar, has advocated for a "United States of Europe" in which the Basque Country participates as a differentiated member, "on an equal footing", and is "star number 28". These statements did not take place in an Alderdi Eguna or, in general, in a party event, where the drive for sovereignty grows, but in the Europa-Tribuna Euskadi Forum, a forum attended by relevant figures from the political, economic and business.
The leader of the PNV has come to this forum to present a conference by the MEP of his party, Izaskun Bilbao, and has wanted to exhibit a Europeanist profile, although also an ultimate desire for sovereignty.
"We would like there to be a European Constitution, a United States of Europe where the Basque Country has a place... to be the star number 28 or 29. If we make a union like the one we promote, all the peoples and nations of the continent will be on an equal footing", he defended.
In his speech, Ortuzar stressed the "Eurocentric vision" of the PNV and the fact that they are "convinced Europeanists", despite acknowledging that "the Europe that is being built" is not what the jeltzale formation would do or what they wanted to build.
"Even so, Europe is the best place in the world to live. It is the safest place, where there is less inequality, where there is less poverty and where we have the best guarantee of respect for Human Rights," he said.
The Peneuvista president has pointed out that the EU has "complexities" and "contradictions", but that "little by little" it is heading towards what his party wants, which is a "much more united Europe, much more solid in common, in the political union.
Ortuzar has concluded that his party has “Euskadi in its heart and head”: “We are the paradigm of defending the interests of the Basques, but we know how to make it compatible with union with others. Make what is close compatible with the vocation of extending the democratic system throughout the world”.
The declarations of the jeltzale leader contrast with the pragmatic commitment of his party, focused on compliance with the Statute of Gernika as its main aspiration in the short term. In fact, the lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu, has buried the possibility of addressing the renewal of the self-government status in the remainder of the legislature, an aspiration that until last political year remained among his short-term objectives.
The jeltzales, in any case, always differentiate their immediate goals from their ultimate horizon, which Ortuzar has synthesized in that vision of the United States of Europe with Euskadi as a differentiated member.
