Jean-Michel Coscarat is abertzale? Why Aintzina Baigorri as list head?

First of all, I didn't want to be a list head. Antton Kurutxarri was an abertzale in the head, but, as it could not be otherwise, if he had been the leader he would not have been elected. When I introduced myself as a mayor, I didn’t mean “whether I’m an abertzale or not” from the beginning. Some have felt upset about being elected: “He’s now a nationalist mayor,” he’s heard. It is my wish to do something for Euskal Herria, without saying that I am Abertzale. The political situation of the last 40 years has exacerbated coexistence in the people, and many have demonstrated against Abertzale society. The Aintzina Baigorri group is assembled with the Abertzales.

He has been in office for two years. What experience have you experienced?

I spent six years as an opposition counselor. It seemed to me that things were not going well. Jean-Baptiste Lambert, who was mayor for 14 years, and his team did not agree with me being mayor. We have had 19 elected officials, four in the opposition. To confront the team that I had run until then, we had to bring people together from all the ideas and from all the parties. At first I found it difficult to manage the team, because I don't always agree with everyone, not everyone. But despite the struggles, we agreed. Patience helps me.

What are the temporary needs of the municipality?

First: The population of Baigorri is mainly of different ages. That is a great perversity, the young people do not stay in the village. In the last four years, we have lost 100 people. It is a paradox, there are many associations – one of them is Basaizea – that make the people live, but many of these young people do not live in the people. The town dies, the shops close. Until recently there were seven hotels and now there are three. If last year there were about 20 houses to sell, if we do nothing, those houses will be empty. To change that trend, we have to create jobs. On the road to the people of Banka we have put in place a project for the work centre. We want to install shops in the center of the village.

How are basic services? The health service, for example?

The first task has been to put in place the Health Center that Lambert set up. The project was started without medical staff. We've been lucky enough to be a young doctor. He was about to come from Paris, but he was asking for work for his wife. A year went by, the project became a political issue. Hardly, but in the end the doctor came. When the project was launched, those of us in the opposition did not want the people to take care of it, but the Commonwealth, which is the health centre of the valley. It's finally going on. In total, there are 25 workers. The consolidation of the health service is fundamental in any country.

The issue of correspondence has been well known. Thanks to the mobilizations, the region of Baigorri has been able to retain this service.

It was important for us to take into account the whole valley. Inclusion of Banca, Aldude and Urepele. The entry of young people into these village houses wants to change the way the valley is managed. Working together, we've saved the scammer. Without poles, the life of the region could not be dreamed. We have made demonstrations, we have been in Pau, we have reused it among all of us. At the moment they work around a dozen workers. The problem is that the cardholders don't distribute as many cards as they did before, but they have to do the same journey. Therefore, we want to symbolise the complementary works for them: both the pharmacy and the transport of part of the companies in the cultivation environment. One of the major problems in the Baigorri Valley is on-road communication, such as the non-arrival of the train to Garazi. From Baiona to Garazi train service has resumed normally. While before I was from Arrosa to Baigorri, since 2009 there was a bus going on. They removed him. If the elderly and young people have to take the train, they have to go to Arrosa. Therefore, in order to solve it, over the next few months we will start a bus that will travel through Banka, Urepele, Aldude and Baigorri.

Cultivation is fundamental. However, your region is that of the mountain.

At the Baigorri People's Council we have seven farmers. Most farmers want to get quality benefits, they don't want to increase them. So far, cows or sheep have been the main crops of small farms, now vineyards have also been established. Despite the loss of farms, many young people are being set up, and they are still quite demanding. But to help them we need to plant trade, to do so we need to find solutions, either with the support of accommodation or through tourism. We are all going to save the crop and the farmers are also going to help revitalise other sectors. There is no other way.

The town of Baigorri is located in the Herri Elkargoa of Iparralde, Baatxa and Garazi. What do you think of school work?

I've worked on the Urbanism Committee. The Local Urban Planning Plan (PLU) is being worked on in public schools, but in our case only one in every 30 municipalities had this possibility. Any eviction has had to be channeled from Donapaleu [in the region of Amikuze]. In that committee, I realized that there was enough to think like Euskal Herria, to talk to each other about the Basque Country of tomorrow. The shortage of work means that many young people come every day from Baigorri to the coastal localities. Others stay there. Through a single Public College, young people should have the gift of playing here. To begin with, we must take into account the problems of people who travel to Baiona every day. During the weekend, people who come from the city to the mountain in their spare time have to change their journey. We have 80 kilometres on our way to entertain ourselves, and we cannot do so easily. In a single Community we should share the goods. I think we do as soon as possible, but I have hope. If people have desires, we can refute them.

You mentioned only one Public College: half of the population and more than half of the peoples voted in favour.

However, the population does not usually talk much about it. The electorate must speak more about the issue to the public. At the Baigorri Council last autumn, at the first vote, there were 17 votes in favour and two against. We voted again, and it was 17 in favour and two in blank. Little has changed, but now no one is opposed, not even the elected positions of the opposition, including Lambert, who was mayor of the working capital. It's been amazing, in Baigorri, we're moving forward. Not all the peoples of the Garazi-Baigorri People ' s Commonwealth are in favour, but the majority are. In all the villages of our valley, the favourable attitude is predominant.

What benefits do you see in the only Public College?

To begin with, there are no ways in the present Commonwealth to implement the country project that we want to work on in Baigorri. In fact, the first shortage is money. In a single school, things will not be easy, but things cannot be worse. In principle, marrying more capable countries is no worse. For example, in Baiona and Baigorri we do not have the same needs. In urbanism, things are very different. In our meetings on urbanism, whether in Maule, Hazparne or Garazi, everyone has shown their own understandable concerns. In Zuberoa, for example, there are workplaces to be set up at work, but people don't want to be there. What for? Because they are not enough services in the city: neither adequate transportation, nor easy access to housing, nor leisure spaces. Basically like Baigorri. We therefore need to be smart and share our needs. If the people of the city want to go indoors on the weekend or on the sunny days, we have to establish good roads and services, we have to share the money to build them.

The big houses of the people are concerned about the question of taxation. Opponents of a single school are alegia.Normala.

The project is not easy. However, a mayor of a small town in the Nice People’s Commonwealth has taught us how it has been reaffirmed in the construction of its project. At first, there were few supporters, now most of them are on their side. It takes empathy. If you each shape your posture a little bit, the others can accept it. If the City of Baiona has left, why will Biarritz not be able to do so? Let us suppose that the small town of Bidart has not approved the single Community, but it does not want to separate itself from Biarritz, because that is its necessity. We all need him. Jean-René Etchegaray and his neighbours have facilitated the road. Without the work he has done, the College would not have been ahead of it. We need empathy and courage.

They say that a balance is needed between regions.

However, neither the sea nor the interior must be afraid of each other. For example, if we want to retain the traces of the profits of the labourers, those of the city must absolutely help us. In the same way, Biarritz takes advantage of the Euskal Herria brand to attract tourism, but if the world of farmers dies, Euskal Herria will not maintain its own brand.

The mayors of Lüküze, Barthelemy Aguerre and Armendariz, Lucien Delgue, have instituted a hierarchical appeal against the single Public College.

Aguer has wanted from the beginning to associate Amikuze with Bearn’s Savior. Are you afraid to lose your job? Delgue and Agüer do not find a project other than their own. They don't want to lose their chair, there's no choice. The imposition of this resource is a way of doing contrary policy. Once the Department has disappeared, many competences will certainly be lost. As a single Public College, the competences will change. In recent years, the Department ' s money has been considerably reduced. The system must be changed and the changes create doubts. Agüer and Delgue sow fear about it, they play their political game.

On the contrary, the mayors of Biarritz, Michel Veunac, and Angelu, Claude Olive, have not taken that path, nor have the mayor of Irulegi, Jakes Irume.

Those against have also participated in the dismantling of the single Community of Iparralde. Some have realized that only one community can be for the better. Mutual knowledge has taught us all. I have learned a lot in cooperation with the mayors of Zuberoa, Lapurdi and Baja Navarra.

Those who fear a single community fear that the identity of the Basque Country will be accelerated. They represent Iparralde within the entire Basque Country.

Nationalists have always said that they want a Basque country. In the last 40 years we have realized that Pamplona is very close. The region of Baigorri is becoming more and more widespread on the other side. It is about seeing the number of people who meet on the Day of Navarra. History can be remade together. Once the border is over, relationships will become more fluid. Baigorri's story has been complicated in recent years, but the young people of today are changing their ways of relating, the elect of us are working on it. I hope that on the road to the economy and cultural initiatives day by day it will also change.

Despite having the school, the Basque Country is not certified. What is the situation of the Basque Country in Baigorri?

In Baigorri it is said that it is different from other counties and that the Basque is more alive, but here we are also losing the Basque. The situation in the Basque Country is not easy. Those of us who have had the Basque of fathers and mothers are aware that our sons and daughters do not do so in the same way. If they don't speak, they'll lose little to poco.Algunos they think Euskera is to differentiate us, and it's just the opposite. For example, the desire of many people who have come from outside is to learn Basque. For them, Euskera is an enormous wealth.

Does the Basque Country have a place in the functioning of the Consistorial House or the Citizen Council?

The Casa del Pueblo has approved the contract that the Instituto Público de la Lengua Vasca (EEP) offered for the next season. The workers have also approved it in some way, but everyone has opted for their own choice. Some of the courses have started in Basque. First of all, that craving has given me pleasure. In the Secretariat, only one of them has taken the Basque with responsibility. The truth is that we do not participate much in the planning of the OPE. In the meetings we did not speak in Basque, let alone. Starting in Basque, we also moved to French. I include a few words in Basque in the e-mails of the members of the Council. Oops! It's not easy.

How is the purchase project of the Etxauzia Palace?

We have a year to achieve our first objective. The owners would like to have a response to October. Will we have reason to agree? It has not been said that older people cannot have another buyer. If we reject the project, that shows that Baigorri has been set in motion in search of something big. Many generations of Baigorri’s neighbours have gone to pick up this Palace for the people, but they have not succeeded. If that were the case, it would be a good starting point. The association managed by Etxauzia wants to assume the project in favor of the Basque country. It could be a project for the diaspora, for all the Basques, to go see the essence of our family, to look outside and inside, to speak in Basque with what we can do. In Baigorri, fortunately, relations are changing, the Basque country is no longer a matter of politics. Nobody is against the Basque Country, we are not like two years ago.

Therefore, being mayor Jean-Michel Coscarat has been a good option.

When I was appointed mayor, some “you have deceived us, you are a patriot, but you have not presented your list as such,” they told me. I told them I don't know what it is to be abertzale or not. On the right thing, what not to say, I am, to retain our culture and our language. Many baigorri have seen nationalism as something ugly, now in a way it's changing. I commend Mr Betti Bidart, his work is impressive. The workers and neighbours of the Consistorial House appreciate the work done by Bidart, which has only brought benefits to the people. In essence, this is a work by a nationalist.