Emotional farewell to Aitor Esteban: “The Cortes lose one of its most brilliant speakers”

Aitor Esteban said goodbye to the Congress of Deputies on Wednesday on his way to Sabin Etxea, where he will take over the leadership of the PNV, and received a warm farewell from the deputies. A significant part of the chamber stood up and applauded him, while the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, dedicated a few words to him.

"Everything has been said with the applause you have received from the various parliamentary groups, but I would like to congratulate you on your election as president of the Euskadi Buru Batzar of the PNV. The Cortes Generales have lost one of their most brilliant orators, but the PNV has gained an extraordinary president of the organisation," he said.

Wink with the Official Secrets Act

Aitor Esteban was visibly moved by the applause, although he merely stood up to thank the gesture. Sánchez also gave a nod to his efforts to reform the Law on Official Secrets: “I hope that we can continue to count on you, that we can continue working. And of course, you can count on us to modify the Law on Official Secrets during this legislative period.”

The PNV spokesman in Madrid, a doctor of law and professor at the University of Deusto, has been a member of Congress since 2004 and the spokesman for the Basque Nationalist Party in the chamber since 2012, taking over from Josu Erkoreka.

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Over the years he has been recognised as one of the best speakers in the Chamber. Esteban will take over from Andoni Ortuzar and become the new president of the Euskadi Buru Batzar, the Basque Nationalist Party Executive, at the general assembly that the party will hold on 29 and 30 March in San Sebastian, after a hectic internal process that is coming to an end.