ZARZALEJOS TAKES PART IN THE 4TH GREGORIO ORDÓÑEZ SCHOOL
Popular Party MEP Javier Zarzalejos spoke on Saturday the 21st at the fourth edition of the Gregorio Ordóñez School, organized by Nuevas Generaciones of the Basque Country in San Sebastián. He participated in a roundtable discussion alongside Laura Garrido, Basque MP and spokesperson for the PP in the Basque Country; Mikel Lezama, spokesperson for NNGG of Gipuzkoa; and Santiago López, Basque MP and president of NNGG Bizkaia, in a debate moderated by Jon Echevarria.
Zarzalejos opened his remarks by acknowledging the consolidation of the School and reaffirming the commitment to the memory of Gregorio Ordóñez, encouraging attendees to learn from him in order to carry forward his legacy of firmness and leadership. The Basque MEP placed that example in the current context and, after referring to the Davos Forum, stated that the end of the international order as we have known it has been confirmed. In his view, Europe is experiencing a time of rupture and must choose between managing an impossible continuity or leading change, even assuming a strategic divergence from the United States, though without entering into a dynamic of confrontation.
The Popular Party MEP argued, in contrast to protectionism, for expanding free trade areas such as Mercosur or India, consolidating the single market, and advancing financial and banking union. He also called for strengthening defense and technological capabilities in the face of hybrid conflicts, and for adjusting climate targets to make them compatible with competitiveness. In this regard, Zarzalejos warned of the need to address structural problems such as population decline and rising debt.
At the regional level, Zarzalejos warned of the deterioration in the quality of the Basque education system, the saturation of the electricity grid, and managerial shortcomings in strategic infrastructures such as the Basque Y high-speed rail project. The Popular Party MEP expressed concern over persistently high levels of absenteeism and labor conflict, as well as declining foreign investment and the emergence of a climate hostile to business initiative. “Something serious is happening and we must react,” he stated.
The Basque MEP pointed out that Europe offers opportunities, such as the Next Generation funds—whose management he described as scandalous—but warned that the issue is not whether the Basque Country is improving, but with whom it is comparing itself. “We continue to lose ground,” he said, before criticizing the PNV and PSE for remaining entrenched in a permanent, “moth-eaten” coalition which, in his view, has run out of steam and reveals management shortcomings.