Aitor Esteban, a appeaser in times of polarization | Spain
That young Bilbao at the beginning of twenty had gained fame for the vehemence of his speeches in the party assemblies. « He had a lot soon, he did not regret and defended his ideas firmly, » recalls his partner Iñigo Iturrate. There are even those who paint the general secretary of EGI (Euzko Gaztedi Indarra, Basque strength and youth, PNV puppies) as « very radical, very independence. » « And who is not, at that age and at that time? » Relativizes his friends.
That energetic speaker of the Eighty Penuvista Assemblies, in an Euskadi that greased its new autonomy under a climate loaded with tension and violence, was called Luis Aitor Esteban Bravo, will turn 63 in June and just said goodbye to Congress recognized as a great parliamentarian and an anomaly in polarization times. Nobody in recent years had recited so many praise of political rivals and journalists. Also of the PP, despite The clashes with their current leaders and the alicaid applause that Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Cuca Gamarra dedicated to him while most of the hemicycle cheered him. Only Vox was on the sidelines, although there the rejection is mutual. Already in an electoral debate in 2019, Esteban He denied the greeting to Iván Espinosa de los Monterosthen spokesman for a match that advocates illegalizing his. And in the last campaign he proclaimed: « With fascism, nothing at all. Or who helps him. »
A veteran PNV militant who held outstanding responsibilities attributes to his historic president Xabier Arzalluz A reflection: “Politics cannot be done in Euskadi without going through Madrid. There you realize the reality that is not seen here from the Txoko”Esteban has fulfilled it much more than Arzalluz, two and a half years deputy in Cortes. He has been 21, 12 of them as a spokesman, only surpassed by the 18 of another historic, Iñaki Anasagasti. « It’s in Madrid where he has become a character, » Corrobora Mikel Legarda, a teammate. And in a privileged situation: political fragmentation has made the PNV more decisive than ever for governance.
With that baggage, after a movement that had a lot of unforeseen, Esteban will assume the presidency of a PNV that retains intact his power in Euskadi and his influence in Madrid, but suffering from some tribulations: a militancy downward, aged and somewhat apathetic against an adversary by the nationalist hegemony, EH Bildu, with the wind in favor of the new generations. It arrives after a somewhat strange process, for the withdrawal of who in principle sought re -election, Your old friend Andoni Ortuzarthreatened by a vote of punishment and a division as it had not been seen in a long time. The trance has left injuriesas left by Ortuzar de 2023 at the end of 2023 Jubilee the Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu. But discretion is a mark of the house and not even a public reproach could be heard.
The twenties of impetuous verb that emerged in the assemblies marked from the beginning an imprint: « There are two things that define it: it is a very good person and a real political animal, » says Iturrate, a companion and friend since that time. Iturrate, today director of the Euskalduna Palace of Bilbao, remembers how the eve of Aberri Eguna (Day of the Basque Homeland) of 1985, friends and militants of EGI gathered to eat at a relative’s house. It was Easter Saturday and, after lunch, the young people went partying. Esteban was erased: « He locked himself in a room to prepare the speech he had to give at the rally of the next day with Arzalluz. »
« Aitor is a 100% PNV product, » Ites Iturrate. He joined the party with 16 years, in full transition. And he married another Bilbao militant, Itxaso Atutxadaughter of Javier Atutxa, The Captainpresident of the party in Bizkaia. Itxaso, with whom he has two children, has been the woman with more power in a very masculine organization after performing the same position for 11 years as his father. He abandoned him last November within the renewal promoted by Ortuzar before he reached himself.
Aitor’s father also joined the PNV, although after him. « But it was the one who transmitted to me what Euskadi was and the history of our war referents and exile, » explains Esteban. Also with whom Basque learned, who was not spoken at home, guided by a grammar. His mother was Soriana, from Cañamaque, a town that today has 27 inhabitants and where Esteban retains properties to which he attends regularly.
The father instilled one of his passions, the rugby, who played as a young man and has sometimes used as a metaphor in his parliamentary interventions. The other sprouted from him. Always tell that in Westerns His sympathy was inclined to the Indians. He set him so much that he passes seasons in reserves of the United States, Chapurrea Lakota, a Sioux language, collects books and objects from those tribes and taught anthropology of indigenous peoples at the same University of Deusto where he was doctorate and also taught constitutional law.
Before entering the University of the Jesuits, he studied in a religious school, the heart of Mary, and then at the Central Public Institute of Bilbao. Already in politics, he was one of those called Jobubisyouths Burukides (Penuvista leaders) Biscay among which was Urkullu, who climbed on the party and consolidated him in more pragmatic positions after the failed sovereign adventure of the Ibarretxe plan. Only Esteban remains in the front line.
Without reaching thirty, he entered the Diputación de Bizkaia, where he presided over the general meetings, the equivalent of the assembly. « He was already a professor in Deusto and I was very prepared, so I convinced our PSOE partners to accept it in the Governing Council in voice but without vote, » recalls José Alberto Pradera, president of the agency. He landed in Congress in 2004 and one of his first Afannes was to sign up for a language classes service, where he coincided with another rookie, the Catalan socialist Meritxell Batet. « A passionate about languages was noticed, » says the one that would later be president of the Chamber, to whom he sent messages in Catalan. Its linguistic domain covers English, French, German and some Arabic.
After assuming the spokesman in 2012, he began to shine as a speaker and as a negotiator. « Speak with a lot of common sense and now it is increasingly difficult to hear speeches of that kind, » values the socialist spokesman Patxi López. « He carries the DNA of Basque politics: we don’t like insult or anger. » « It has a great sense of institutionality, something that is being lost in a galloping way, » Batet. Gabriel Rufián confesses that he received many advice from him and even some scolding. « I once liked what he said, but I always like how he says it, » adds ERC spokesman, who smiles in aiming that he still has embodies of that youth fury: « It’s a bit cascarrabias. » « But it has a short rule, » says a partner.
The PNV spokesman also involves « making Lobist of Euskadi in Madrid, » says a Basque deputy of another party. « He has worked a lot where it is not seen, in offices of ministries and companies. » In offices, in restaurants, in hotels, on calls at any time of day and night … often accompanied by Ortuzar. And in quotes not always discreet: one of the last times, they were caught in a Galician restaurant where Minister Félix Bolaños had taken after the complaints of the Basques for the functional food of the Moncloa. « The Moon never asks you, but in what you ask you is a pylon hammer, » illustrates the head of the Presidency and Justice. Legarda corroborates: « He is a hard negotiator, but he knows the line that must not be transferred. »
Rajoy’s fall
Its most committed moment occurred in 2018, when the PNV supported the motion of censure against Mariano Rajoydays after agreeing the budgets. For the PP it was almost a betrayal. « A shock”, Sums up the then popular spokesman, Rafael Hernando, who, despite everything, apologizes:“ He was overcome, he was more of the game than his. He is a great parliamentarian and an excellent person. ”That also did not break the relationship with Rajoy, to whom he had measured In remembered dialectical duels In the gallery. Esteban has always appreciated it and even today messages are exchanged.
The new penile leader usually twists the gesture when someone suggests that his is a right -wing game. « What we are is in favor of the company, » he says, to then wield public services policies deployed for years by the Basque Government. « Christian democracy .. which is a broad field, » Legarda defines his ideology. A Christian democracy, in any case, that has supported the extension of abortion, the regulation of euthanasia or trans law. Some acquaintances point out that his wife has contributed to leading to progressive positions in matters such as feminism.
One of the unknowns about his mandate is the relationship he will maintain with his left Abertzale. Ortuzar had strengthened personal ties with EH Bildu leader, Arnaldo Otegi, who has just dedicated a feeling farewell In an article in the newspaper Deia. Esteban has maintained more distances and, already in 2020, declared with his habotual Campeche style: « Bildu wants to put the ass where the PNV is. »
The praise of national parties can forget that Esteban has never ceased to be an independence. When the journalist tells a PNV member that the speech of his new leader does not sound excessively nationalist, the interlocutor rebukes:
– How he hears you, kills you!
Surely everything is better understood by remembering the luck of a declaration of principles than presided over the table of his office in Congress: An image of a red cloud, the chief Sioux who struggled without fainting and also signed the peace.
