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The Catalan president-in-exile, Carles Puigdemont, has met this Friday at his residence in Waterloo, Belgium, with the president of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), Andoni Ortuzar. It is the first public meeting between the two leaders. The summit, which took place this morning at Puigdemont's Casa de la República and lasted two and a half hours, was also attended by the general secretary of Together for Catalonia (Junts), Jordi Turull, and the organizational head of the Basque party, Joseba Aurrekoetxea. The meeting comes in the context of the scenarios opened up by the Spanish general election of July 23rd, which, as Puigdemont explained last week, open the door to an "historical agreement unprecedented since 1714, since the key to the investiture of a Spanish prime minister is essentially in the hands of Junts. However, the PNV is also crucial to the electoral arithmetic - it has also been courted unsuccessfully by the PP - and in recent weeks, Junts and the Basque party have intensified contacts to further strengthen their relations. They used this Friday's meeting to analyze the current political situation at a time when "the two parties play a key role in a possible negotiation for the investiture that has not yet begun", the two parties emphasize in a statement.

In this text, they point out that "the last election has made the votes of the seven Junts deputies and the five of the PNV decisive for the formation of a government in Spain". Along these lines, Carles Puigdemont and Andoni Ortuzar shared the "positions and expectations" with which the two parties approach this important process. The meeting is part of the "periodic contacts" that both parties have, they explain, and both sides have left satisfied: "It has been cordial and profitable." Beyond the investiture, the Junts and PNV politicians addressed how to "intensify and optimize relations" between themselves, and between Catalonia and the Basque Country.

reunió Junts PNB Waterloo 15 setembre 2023 Junts per Catalunya
On the left of the photo, Joseba Aurrekoetxea (PNV organizing secretary) and Jordi Turull (Junts general secretary); on the right, Carles Puigdemont and Andoni Ortuzar / Photo: Junts per Catalunya.

A meeting scheduled well in advance 

The leader of the centre-right Basque nationalists, Andoni Ortuzar, declared after the meeting with the Catalan leader in exile that the visit had been "scheduled" for some time, as his party's statement also mentions. Ortuzar has admitted that they have spent "a good part of the time" on "sharing" their analyses of the current political context and the central role they have been placed in since the July 23rd with respect to "any possible investiture". "We have had an interesting exchange of positions on negotiations that have not yet started," the Basque leader emphasized again.

The summit between Junts and the PNV in Waterloo comes a week and a half after the president-in-exile, Carles Puigdemont, gave a press conference in which he outlined the four conditions that Junts will insist on for an agreement on investing a new Spanish PM: the recognition of the democratic legitimacy of the independence movement, an amnesty law to be passed before a possible investiture, the permanent abandonment of the judicial process and the creation of a mechanism for "control and verification of agreements". Meanwhile, last Sunday, in an interview with the newspaper Deia, Andoni Ortuzar attacked Pedro Sánchez and demanded that he reach an agreement with both his party and Junts: "Either an understanding is sought with [the two parties] or things won't work out". The Basque leader asserted that this legislature will be "different" and urges the Socialists to lead "a certain coordination, a certain understanding of how to structure this between Sánchez, the Basque Country and Catalonia". The PNV leader maintains that it is necessary to be "capable of articulating at least the procedure between the three parties so as not to short-circuit one another". Asked about his relationship with Junts and Carles Puigdemont, Ortuzar already pointed out last Sunday that it is "good" and that in recent months it has become "closer and more fluid".