Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu sworn into office in front of the Tree of Gernika
Iñigo Urkullu was sworn into office as Lehendakari under the Tree of Gernika before members of the Basque Parliament, sitting in a plenary session in the Casa de Juntas (Assembly House). Urkullu repeated the formula used in 1936 by the first President of the Basque Government, José Antonio Agirre, although he introduced some changes. The Lehendakari avoided the expression “humbled before God” and replaced it by “humble before God and society” as he did in 2012. On this occasion, he used neither the Bible nor the Crucifix at the oath-taking table.
Urkullu took the oath of office on the Parliament’s copy of the Statute of Autonomy, on which ministers of the Basque Government take their oaths, and a copy of the Old Charter of Biscay. This document, prepared on November 4, 1600 by the notary public Juan Ruiz de Angiz, is the first text to include all the institutions in the Seigneury of Vizcaya, the individual guarantees of the people of Bizkaia and the form of participation in public life.
After his official appointment as Lehendakari was read out, Mr. Urkullu left the Casa de Juntas to swear the oath under the tree, the symbol of Basque freedoms. Next to him was the Speaker of the Basque Parliament, Bakartxo Tejería, this being an extraordinary session of the regional parliament. After the oath, the band of the Ertzaintza played the Basque hymn "Euzko-Abendaren Eserkia".
