The Imanol Pradales government has acquired four high-end Lexus sedans in recent weeks on a leasing basis, according to this newspaper and confirmed by official sources. This is the same number of new official cars as the number of portfolios that have been expanded in the Basque Executive. Pradales leads a coalition cabinet of PNV and PSE-EE with 16 members, the largest in the history of the Basque Country, compared to 12 in Iñigo Urkullu’s last team. The vehicles, registered on 19 July, are already in service and are silver-grey or black.
Lexus, the luxury branch of Toyota, is the car manufacturer that the former Lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu, chose when he renewed his official cars four years ago. Now, however, they have opted for a lower model in the catalogue. These are ES type vehicles – with an Eco label – compared to the LS that Urkullu used and that Pradales has now inherited. In terms of purchase, this model can be acquired in its most basic category from around 55,000 euros, while the largest one costs twice as much.
With the new acquisitions, the fleet of official government cars goes from 15 units – for security reasons, the lehendakaris have several that rotate – to 19. In addition to Pradales’ Lexus and the new acquisitions, there are also BMW and Audi sedans. The previous batch was acquired in 2020, when Urkullu’s third term began. At that time, a ‘renting’ contract of 1.7 million euros for the 15 cars and for four years was reported, that is, more than 100,000 euros on average. Now the sources consulted have not offered the data on the cost of the ‘renting’. This mobile fleet is managed by the Ertzaintza and the drivers are escorts of Berrozi’s elite unit.
The expansion of portfolios in the Government has also generated other tangible economic consequences. The Basque Parliament is finishing the most important works in its history in the hemicycle for the first plenary sessions of the legislature – scheduled for next week – given that the new team did not fit in the Government bench, with fourteen seats. Two seats have had to be installed in an area of stairs on both sides. One of these new seats is precisely that of Pradales, who will not sit in the historic seat of the lehendakaris of the PNV, to the right of the Board. The other affected is the socialist María Jesús San José. These works, which have also involved changes in the carpet and other reforms, were estimated in the summer at around 47,500 euros. The figure for how much the works have cost in the administrative headquarters of Lakua, where offices have also had to be fitted out for the new councillors, has not been given. The opposition made a pretense of asking the relevant minister, María Ubarretxena, about this in the Basque Parliament this week, but she did not offer any concrete data either.
Source: www.eldiario.es
