The Government of Navarra and the Ministry of Territorial Policy have reached an agreement to reform the Organic Law of Reintegration and Improvement of the Foral Regime of Navarra (Lorafna) that “protects the traffic competence as a historical right of Navarra.” The agreement, the first step to carry out this reform, was made known after the first meeting of the Navarra-State Negotiating Commission for the reform of the law, equivalent to an Autonomy Statute, held on Tuesday at the Palacio de Navarra. The Navarra delegation was headed by President María Chivite and the state delegation by the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres.
Two months ago, the Supreme Court annulled the royal decree by which, in April 2023, the traffic competences that until then had been held by the Civil Guard were transferred to the Community of Navarra. The Contentious-Administrative Chamber admitted the appeal filed by the Justicia Guardia Civil (JUCIL) association considering that this transfer could not be made by a royal decree since neither the Lorafna nor the historical right recognize traffic competences for the community. The judges concluded that these competences could be assumed by Navarra, “but, either by reforming the Lorafna [as agreed this Tuesday], or by means of an organic law.”
The transfer of the exclusive competences of traffic and road safety, enjoyed by the Basque Country and Catalonia, is a historical claim of Navarra that has been maintained by presidents of all parties that have passed through the regional government. The government of José María Aznar (PP) committed to the transfer in the year 2000 with the then Navarre president, Miguel Sanz, of UPN, but the agreement was not finalized. UPN insisted on its request, without success, in the following years and finally, in October 2018, with Pedro Sánchez in La Moncloa, the central government and the then Navarra president, Uxue Barkos (Geroa Bai), reached an agreement for the transfer of these competences from May 2019. The deadline was not met, but the commitment was maintained and in April 2023, the government approved a royal decree with the conditions of the transfer, which began to take effect in July.
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