Gemma Zabaleta Areta (Donostia, 1957) left the PSE-EE in October 2017 after her party’s support for 155 in Catalonia following the declaration of independence. Although as counselor for the area of Employment and Social Policies in the Government of Patxi López (2009-2012) she stood out for cutting benefits such as the RGI or for tightening the access requirements for foreigners with agreements with Javier Maroto’s PP, she has always cultivated a position beyond the socialist one on the identity level and for some time it has been getting closer to EH Bildu. Now, in the electoral campaign, she has accompanied the candidate for deputy general of Gipuzkoa, Maddalen Iriarte, in Usurbil. The candidate for mayor of Donostia, Juan Karlos Izagirre, who was already a councilor from 2011 to 2015, has also received public support these days from Nagua Alba, former coordinator of Podemos in Euskadi.
Eider Mendoza, PNV candidate in Gipuzkoa: “EH Bildu proposed a tax system like that of Sudan, Venezuela or Chad”
Further
“From a progressive and left-wing perspective, we have to lead this paradigm shift and for this we must bet on new models that go beyond simply welfare models”, Zabaleta stated in an act very focused on the relevance of care in a society that is increasingly older. The former counselor added: “We have the challenge of consolidating the fourth pillar of the Welfare State, where care must be a fundamental piece to make a qualitative leap so that once and for all it becomes a public service of the first order such as Health and Education”.
Iriarte took advantage of the meeting to list the measures proposed by the coalition on the matter such as “reducing the co-payment”, updating the benefits for care in the environment, increasing the “time of direct surveillance” in the residences, improving the working conditions of the staff of these centers or reduce the value of the price in public tenders in the social area to bet more on social or equality clauses. “We need concrete and real solutions”, has summoned the candidate, who argues that the current institutions “do not have an efficient response” to citizen demands.
The head of the list has given the example of management of municipalities led by EH Bildu such as Hernani, Azpeitia or Zestoa, in addition to Usurbil itself. Agurtzane Solaberrieta, the councilor of the municipality, has indicated that “many hours” have been put into “transformative” projects. She has mentioned Txirikorda, an “intergenerational community housing” where there are eight houses for young people up to 30 years of age and eight for people over 65. The problem of youth emancipation and unwanted loneliness in advanced ages are combated at the same time, she has she affirmed.
