The Municipal Board of the PNV in Irun issued a statement this afternoon demanding of its governing partners in the Irun City Council, the PSE-EE, “that important decisions be built through collaboration, institutional respect, and real participation”.

The jeltzales, in the document, argue that when they reached an agreement with the PSE-EE in 2025 to form part of the Municipal Government, it was “to open a stage based on shared work, listening, respect among differences, and a more open and connected way of governing with the citizenry,” and not “to maintain the same old dynamics.”

However, they eloquently explain that “governing cannot consist of transferring strategic decisions first to the media and then to those who are part of the government itself.”

The latest example, which the PNV does not explicitly mention but underlies the criticism, is the press conference held last Friday to present the new IAM Pavilion project at Ficoba, about which the jeltzales had no prior knowledge. It is noteworthy in this regard that the Area of Works, Maintenance, and Infrastructure is the responsibility of the PNV. They also express their concern “upon observing that ways of acting continue that prioritize the announcement over agreement, the headline over shared work, and political communication over the collective construction of the city.”

In the same statement, they say that “the change in the Mayor's office at the beginning of the term (alluding to the departure of José Antonio Santano and the entry of Cristina Laborda) generated expectations of change that many irundarras are still waiting to see reflected,” in a city that “has been governed for decades under the same political leadership that is part of our city's history, but also demands the capacity for renewal and new ways of doing things.”

To conclude the statement, the jeltzales ask that “the situation be rectified so that the Governing partner once again takes into account Irun's PNV to build, together, a better Irun.”

The agreement between the socialists and the PNV of Irun was announced a year and a half ago, on January 29, 2025, with the purpose, according to the words of the mayor of Irun, Cristina Laborda, of carrying out “strategic projects that go far beyond this term,” referring, among other things, to Vía Irun, the Southern Ring Road, and the aforementioned IAM Pavilion.

In the distribution of areas, the PSE took charge of Open Government and Citizen Attention; Treasury, General Services, and City Promotion (Bidasoa Activa – Consortium); Culture, Education, Youth, and Sports; and Urbanism, Mobility, and Sustainable Development (Irunvi). The jeltzales took over the areas of Security and Citizen Coexistence; Social Welfare and Equality; Works, Maintenance, and Infrastructure; and the Euskera Delegation.