«This is not one more. It will be my last end of the year message. Serving Basque society is the greatest honor that I personally could have ever imagined. Iñigo Urkullu made his farewell official as Lehendakari this Sunday with a fiery defense of his management during his eleven years at the head of the Basque Government, a work “based on rigor, seriousness and maximum responsibility, without mortgaging anyone's future.”
A month after this newspaper revealed that he will not repeat as a PNV candidate in the next regional elections, for which there is still no date, the Lehendakari has appeared in the halls of Ajuria Enea to bid a symbolic farewell to all Basques. In principle, there are several months left in the legislature and he himself insists that there is a lot of work “to be done”, alluding to the laws pending approval, but in his twelfth appearance of the year's balance sheet since he became Lehendakari in December 2012, Urkullu has opted on this occasion to carry out a detailed analysis of what his legacy will be.
He has also done so, making his intervention epic by remembering Jose Antonio Agirre, who sent his first end-of-year message “in extraordinary circumstances, when our people were being attacked, in a context of war.” Since then, each Lehendakari “has sought the best for Euskadi and has shared it through this message.”
Urkullu has avoided alluding to his replacement as the PNV candidate nor has he given any clues about when the elections will be called. There is no criticism of the opposition or the unions, to which he has launched harsh attacks in recent months. The Lehendakari has opted for a 'positive' message, highlighting the “changes” and “transformations” that Euskadi has experienced in the last twelve years, a period in which “we have moved forward with successes and without a doubt mistakes” and society ” “has taken decisive steps towards the future.”
Urkullu wanted to reinforce one of the arguments that he has always defended throughout his time at the head of the Basque Government. The “rigor” when it comes to managing public resources, “without promising impossible things, without wishful thinking” and “always with our feet on the ground.” Appealing to prudence and sending a message to all those who have demanded more public spending, the Lehendakari compares his work at the head of the Executive with that carried out by anonymous citizens.
Because, in his opinion, “the Basque Government is like any home in our country.” “It is the house that we have built together that tries to manage our resources in the best possible way” and, adds Urkullu, “like any family, it must prioritize and save to be able to invest. The objective is always the same: guarantee the common good.
In a speech with a marked farewell tone, the Chief Executive recalled that when he arrived at Ajuria Enea unemployment was “above 16%” and “today it is less than 8%”, a “great collective achievement” that we owe “to “entrepreneurs, self-employed people, companies, cooperatives, social economy, workers…” Likewise, he has highlighted the advances in social cohesion and “the ability to overcome adverse situations and adapt to change.” Because in 2012, Urkullu says in his last Christmas message, “we did not imagine what awaited us.” «We have suffered successive, deep crises with global impact. Consequences of the 2008 financial crisis, pandemic, wars, fuel crises, supply crises, inflation, rise in interest rates, higher cost of living.
A “real context” and an “obstacle course” that Euskadi has known how to face by “joining forces.” Offering an optimistic vision of the current situation, Urkullu emphasizes that “today Euskadi is standing, more cohesive and prepared to face future challenges that will surely be just as complicated.”
“A new time begins”
The Lehendakari has also reserved space for two core issues in his time as Lehendakari: the end of ETA and self-government. Regarding the terrorist group, he remembers that a decade ago “we shared the desired challenge of peace and coexistence.” The cessation of violence came in October 2011, a year before his arrival in Ajuria Enea, but the dissolution of the organization did not occur until May 2018. He points out that at that time it was about moving forward “in a critical memory, in the culture of respect, peace and coexistence” and that now “we are left with the wound of the victims, whom we remember every day.”
Urkullu, furthermore, insists that “our self-government is neither guaranteed nor has it reached its ceiling.” «We must defend and protect it, also expand and strengthen it. It is the key to our well-being. The Lehendakari shows his “deep concern about the lack of capacity of the European Union in the face of international armed conflicts, as well as the hardening of migration policies”, dedicates a memory to the victims of sexist violence, and ends his speech with a nod to his departure from Ajuria Enea: “A new year begins, a new time begins.”
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