The president of the PNV, Andoni Ortuzar, has paid a visit to the former president of Catalonia and leader of Junts, Carles Puigdemont, at his residence in Waterloo (Belgium) where they have shared the “decisive role” of both formations in the future of the governability of Spain. The meeting lasted for two and a half hours and took place hours after a brief and discreet meeting held this Thursday by Ortuzar with the leader of EH Bidu, Arnaldo Otegi, in one of the meeting rooms of the Basque Parliament.. The PNV has honored the escaped former president of Catalonia as “president of the Generalitat of Catalonia in exile.”

Ortuzar traveled early today from Bilbao to Belgium after observing in detail yesterday the development of the long general policy debate in the Basque Parliament. There, the Bildu leader chatted amicably with Ortuzar when they both arrived at 9:30 a.m. at the beginning of the session and, hours later, they used one of the rooms of the Basque Legislature to have a discreet meeting while the Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu appeared in the chamber.. Ortuzar and Otegi, in addition, left the Basque Legislative Assembly together after 8:00 p.m. yesterday.

Barely 12 hours after that meeting, Andoni Ortuzar held his first meeting with Carles Puigdemont and, according to a statement issued by the PNV, they “strengthened relations” and analyzed the “complex political panorama” after the general elections of 23-J. The meeting in Waterloo ratifies the relationship between PNV and Puigdemont that was practically broken after the failure of the mediation tasks assumed by Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu. The Lehendakari confessed in the Supreme Court that the former president “asked him for help” to not activate the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (DUI) and even committed to calling early elections.

Andoni Ortuzar has maintained a continuous line of communication with all the Catalan independence parties and negotiated directly with Pedro Sánchez the support of the Basque nationalists for his investiture.. In Waterloo, along with Ortuzar and Puigdemont, the head of Organization of the Euzkadi Buru Batzar (EBB), Joseba Aurrekoetxea, and the general secretary of Junts, Jordi Turull, were also present.

“We have dedicated a good part of our time to sharing our analysis of the current political situation, taking into account that after the 23rd elections both parties played a key, decisive role in any eventual investiture,” Ortuzar explained after the meeting in Belgium. However, the official version that the PNV maintains after these last two appointments is that “negotiations have not yet begun” to agree on the conditions of the independence and nationalist parties to facilitate the investiture of Pedro Sánchez.