Sánchez and Pradales postpone their meeting until after the summer due to disagreement over the transfer of Social Security

Pedro Sánchez and the lehendakari, Imanol Pradales, will not finally meet before the summer. Both have held conversations in recent hours and have agreed to postpone the meeting until after the summer period, at a time marked by differences between the Government of Spain and the Basque Executive regarding the transfer of Social Security.

The decision comes after the Government of Spain sent its proposal on July 17 to advance in the transfer of this competence. A proposal that, as confirmed by the Basque Government, is insufficient and keeps the positions between both parties far apart. For the moment, the main obstacles preventing an agreement have not been revealed, although the transfer of Social Security represents one of the most significant pending transfers to advance in the full compliance with the Statute of Gernika.

The meeting between Sánchez and Pradales would have allowed the President of the Government to reinforce his image of dialogue with the lehendakari and with the PNV at a time of special political and parliamentary weakness. However, the postponement of the meeting does not, by itself, imply a breakdown of relations between both governments or between the PSOE and the PNV.

The unknown is now moved to September. It will be then when Sánchez and Pradales will sit down again, presumably with the transfer of Social Security as one of the central issues on the table. The political moment will not be minor: the meeting could coincide with the beginning of the last political year before new elections, a scenario in which the relationship between the Government of Spain and the PNV will again be especially relevant.

Until then, both parties will have to try to bring positions closer on a transfer that, due to its political and jurisdictional dimension, has become one of the key pieces to measure the degree of compliance with pending commitments with Euskadi.