The two parties plan to take their 2023 Senate alliance into the 29 November vote, pending approval by members of both parties. The pact aims to maintain a joint parliamentary force for Catalan and Basque priorities, with housing among its basic demands.
In the 23 July 2023 general election, the parties stood for the Senate under the name ‘Izquierdas por la Independencia’. The arrangement also helped coordinate their work in the upper chamber after the vote. This is a standalone pact between the two sovereignist parties, separate from PSOE. They say they will work together against what they call the “reactionary bloc”.
The Senate alliance gives the separatist parties a way to coordinate pressure in the Cortes Generales and advance their political objectives from a shared position. La Vanguardia and Diario Vasco report that ERC and EH Bildu intend to keep working together in the upper chamber and maintain their own parliamentary group after the election.
Housing gives the pact its clearest social focus. The parties place the so-called “housing emergency” among their basic priorities, linking it to intervention in the rental market and restrictions on property owners, while also calling for continued expansion of social protection managed by regional administrations. They present these measures as demands associated with the radical left, not as policies already adopted. Their joint agenda also calls for defending the right to housing and supporting people affected by the housing crisis.
Their joint statement frames the coming vote as a contest with constitutionalist forces. ERC and EH Bildu say the campaign should defend the rights of Basques and Catalans, along with their ability to “decide their future” outside the structure of Spanish national sovereignty. That language keeps the separatist objective at the centre of an alliance that also addresses housing. The parties link the pact to expanding social guarantees and resisting what they describe as a reactionary bloc.
The agreement remains subject to approval by members of both parties. La Ciutat reported that coalition registration was expected to be completed by 16 October, making ratification a formal step before the electoral process was finalised.
The wider campaign is already turning toward debates and political positioning ahead of the 29 November vote.
ERC and EH Bildu have been preferred parliamentary partners of Pedro Sánchez’s Government during the latest legislatures. Renewed coordination in the upper chamber is intended to preserve their influence over national governability while giving their separate territorial agendas a common electoral vehicle. The parties say their cooperation has helped defend the interests of Catalonia and the Basque Country, including those of their respective social groups.
The pact rests on two calculations: concentrating parliamentary pressure and keeping the separatist programme visible inside Spain’s common institutions. Housing supplies the immediate social focus; the deeper political purpose is continued coordination of Catalan and Basque independence demands.
Its electoral logic differs from that of a joint Congress list. ERC competes in Catalonia, while EH Bildu runs in the Basque Country and Navarre, so the parties do not normally compete for the same votes in the same territories. A Senate formula offers no obvious advantage through the redistribution of votes between their regions. Its practical value lies in preserving coordination and influence after the election.
For the campaign, the Senate pact puts housing alongside the long-running territorial dispute as a basic demand.
