Ajuria Enea hosts an emotional ceremony in recognition of the first Basque Government after the dictatorship

• The Lehendakari Carlos Garaikoetxea, his three councilors Pedro Miguel Echenique, Javier Lasagabaster and Pedro Luis Uriarte, as well as the relatives of the deceased councilors have received an award and have been honored with an honorary aurresku
• Imanol Pradales: “You laid the foundations allowing those of us who have been taking the baton to have the tools to continue growing in prosperity and welfare”

Today, the Ajuria Enea Palace hosted an emotional ceremony to recognize the first Basque Government to emerge from the polls after Franco’s dictatorship. Lehendakari Imanol Pradales highlighted the work of the first executive after the dictatorship during his speech: “You stood up without knowing that you carried the hope and enthusiasm of an entire people on your shoulders. You applied the principles of dialogue and ongoing negotiation to resolve conflicts; you stood firm in defending the interests of the Basque Country and also in respecting the democratic will of Basque society to advance its political future. You started from scratch, with everything to do, without experience, structures, personnel, headquarters, capital, or sufficient resources.”

All this at a historic moment, recalled Imanol Pradales, when ETA’s activities made the atmosphere in the Basque Country “unbearable,” with rampant unemployment and a declining industry. “We owe you the solid institutions and structures we have today. We owe you our well-being” for the courage you showed, he said, in making possible the development, in those difficult times, of the basic pillars of Basque self-government, such as the development of the Ertzaintza, the Basque Public University, the Basque Language Law, Euskotren, and the Economic Agreement, among others. “You laid the foundations, allowing those of us who have taken up the baton to have the tools to continue growing in prosperity and well-being,” concluded Lehendakari Imanol Pradales in his speech of thanks.

For his part, Lehendakari Garaikoetxea thanked Lehendakari Imanol Pradales for “this heartfelt event” and pointed out that today is a day to “look back with gratitude, celebrate what we have built together, and look forward to a challenging future with enthusiasm.”

“I am absolutely certain that the Basque Country has successfully overcome its past, will successfully face the complex challenges of tomorrow, and will be able to shape them to its advantage, turning them into new opportunities for development and well-being. The challenges of the future are great, but our ability to overcome them is greater. We are a brave, creative, hard-working, and united nation. And together, and only together, through real collaboration and respect for diversity, we will achieve a better, fairer, more prosperous, and more sustainable Basque Country,” he said.

It was an emotional event, with brief speeches by the three ministers, Pedro Miguel Echenique Landiríbar, Javier Lasagabaster Etxarri, and Pedro Luis Uriarte Santamaría, who recalled those difficult and complicated beginnings when, they agreed, Lehendakari Carlos Garaikoetxea “showed courage and innovative capacity,” in the words of Echenique. The three councilors also expressed their gratitude for the trust placed in them by Lehendakari Garaikoetxea. “We were people who sacrificed ourselves for an idea, for the Basque Country, to move this country forward,” summarized Pedro Luis Uriarte.

Development of the event

Garaikoetxea, its three directors Pedro Miguel Echenique, Javier Lasagabaster, and Pedro Luis Uriarte, as well as the relatives of the deceased directors –Javier Caño Moreno and Ramón Labayen Sansinenea. Luis María Retolaza Ibargüengoitia, Mario Fernández Pelaz, Javier García Egotxeaga, José Luis Robles Canibe, Carlos Blasco De Imaz, Javier Aguirre Bilbao, Félix Ormazabal Askasibar– were received inside the Ajuria Enea Palace by Lehendakari Imanol Pradales in a private meeting.

Afterwards, in a marquee set up in the palace gardens, the official ceremony took place, beginning with the Basque anthem and the unveiling of the ikurriña flag that had been in the office of Lehendakari Agirre de Paris and which, after the Germans entered the French capital, was collected by Alberto Onaindia (Father Olaso) and delivered to Lehendakari Garaikoetxea on July 18, 1984.

During the ceremony, two videos were shown: one on the anniversary and the political context of the time, and another on the figure of Lehendakari Carlos Garaikoetxea, followed by a discussion between Councilors Echenique, Lasagabaster, and Uriarte, who were part of that government. Both Lehendakari Garaikoetxea and his ministers, as well as the families of the deceased ministers, received an award and were honored with an aurresku of honor.

Highest institutional representation

The event was attended by the country’s highest authorities and political representatives. In addition to the current ministers of the Basque Government, former Lehendakaris Juan Jose Ibarretxe and Iñigo Urkullu were present, as well as the President of the Basque Parliament, Bakartxo Tejería, together with representatives of the Parliament’s Bureau, and its former presidents Juan Maria Atutxa and Izaskun Bilbao. Various spokespersons from the PNV, PSE, EH Bildu, Partido Popular, and Grupo Mixto Sumar parliamentary groups were also in attendance.

Similarly, the deputy general of Araba, Ramiro González, and the deputy generals of Bizkaia, Elixabete Etxanobe, and Gipuzkoa, Eider Mendoza, were also present. Also present were the presidents of the General Assemblies of Araba, Irma Basterra; Bizkaia, Ana Otadui; and Gipuzkoa, Xabier Ezeizabarrena; the mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Maider Etxebarria; the mayors of Bilbao, Juan Mari Aburto, and Donostia, Eneko Goia; and the president of Eudel, Esther Apraiz. Representing the Ararteko institution was Inés Ibañez de Maeztu, as well as members of the Assembly of Basque Parliamentarians who signed the Basque Statute of Autonomy and leading representatives of the political parties in the Basque Country.

Historical context

Following the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, provisional general assemblies were established in each Historical Territory in 1977, and a royal decree in January 1978 established the formation of the Basque General Council as the highest body of the pre-autonomous government, composed of three representatives from each historical territory. In accordance with the decision of the Assembly of Basque Parliamentarians, a drafting committee for the preliminary draft of the Statute was established in December 1978.

Prior to this, on October 25, 1979, the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country, also known as the Statute of Gernika, was approved. The affirmative vote was supported by the majority of the parties. Abstention was the alternative defended by Herri Batasuna and the EMK, Communist Left Organization, and LKI parties. For their part, Alianza Popular and Unión Nacional called for a vote against.

In accordance with the Statute, which states that the powers of the Basque Country are exercised through its Parliament, Government, and Lehendakari, elections to the Basque Parliament were held on March 9, 1980, and the Parliament was constituted on March 31 at the Casa de Juntas in Gernika. On that day, the first Basque parliamentarians took office and approved provisional operating rules.

On April 9, Parliament elected Carlos Garaikoetxea as Lehendakari in Gernika at the proclamation and swearing-in ceremony.

On April 29, the first Governing Council met in the halls of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, and the executive councilors took office. The first meetings were held in this building because the Government did not yet have its own headquarters. It should be noted that the first Basque Government of Lehendakari Agirre also held its first meetings in this same place, while the headquarters that is now occupied by the Carlton Hotel in Bilbao was being refurbished.

On May 23, 1980, the Basque Parliament agreed to declare Vitoria-Gasteiz the seat of the Basque institutions, which determined its destiny as the place of residence of the country’s highest authority, the Lehendakari. It was the first law passed by the Basque Parliament. On June 9, the Government agreed to establish the headquarters of the Presidency and Secretariat of the Basque Government in Ajuria-Enea and the rest of the Basque Government departments in Lakua (Jaurlari-Etxea), the former premises of the Geriatric Hospital, where they are currently located.

On June 16, the official transfer of the Presidency of the Basque Government and its General Secretariat to Ajuria Enea took place, and the first Council of Government was held in this palace.

Until 1992, the Ajuria Enea Palace was the only space used by the Presidency of the Government, but since 1993, the Presidency has had two buildings: Ajuria Enea and Lehendakaritza.