Why did he show up with the French Socialist Party in the 2015 elections in the Aquitaine Region?
I was committed from eighteen years as a member of the Abertzale left of Ipar Euskal Herria. I ended my career as a spokesman for Abertzale Batasuna (AB). In 2012, when we worked on the strategic and programmatic line within the AB, two clear lines appeared: electoral discrepancies. They did not necessarily differ from ideological strategic bases. One of the lines we defended working the way with non-Basque left-wing political forces. Most decided otherwise, and I stopped military at AB and EH Bai.

At Anarte, he worked in the direction of the Chamber of Agriculture of Ipar Euskal Herria (EHLG). The responsibility for relations with the electorate was mine and through the EHLG I deepened relations with the electorate. I contacted some of the elected members of the New Aquitaine General Council and also President Alain Rousset.

How were the relationships? Was it by chance?
Yeah, at least I thought ... In 2015, votes arrived and Rousset gave the choice to leftist movements at the top of the electoral lists. The PS accepted in Bearno a member of the CGT and decided to open a space to a member close to the EHLG. Rousset himself contacted me quite naturally, we agreed and could not discuss the points and signed an agreement. I put a number of conditions in place: without giving up being Abertzale, I expressed my desire to link Ipar Euskal Herria with constructive agricultural policy projects. Through the competences of New Aquitaine, I was able to see that it had enough courage to undertake that work. The Bordeaux General Council is one of the main drivers of the projects.

What was your decision taken by the nationalists? What is the evaluation of the experience after almost four years? With
my surprise, I had less pessimistic attitudes than I thought, most of the quotes I received with respect and with total normality. They were also the opposites, but most of them understood my political desertion. Two words of experience: although I must spend a lot of time as a counselor, I have not considered being an exclusive trade counselor, I still have the need to be a farmer and related to the farmhouse.

Is that OK?
Yes. Member of EMA, spokesman for the IK political prisoners' support committees, I participated in AB and in EH Bai. When I was 20, I became a patriot, because before I was left. For eighteen years I was in the movement of young agricultural students, where I incorporated the perspective of the left, and generally being a socialist on the left, because on the left I have become an Abertzale. Others may have gone the other way, from my point of view at least. From a political point of view, I have always had the desire to get closer to the sectors on the left, although I am not an Abertzale.

Can you therefore take your ideas forward at the Aquitaine Council?
Yes. I've realized that maybe it was a good time to get along, but sometimes I also feel a physical fatigue as I walk across New Aquitaine on the open ground. However, I had sufficient strength to carry out my projects, without deviating from my political principles. It is my responsibility to assume that political responsibility. I have the representation I wanted to achieve: to be responsible for mountain farming and grazing. I think I'm useful where I am.

When you leave EH Bai, "you have to get out of a certain nationalistic absolutism," you said. After the change in the political stage we have experienced, how have you seen the evolution of EH Bai?
Today, I would not use the word “absolutism.” The change in the political situation has brought new ways of doing politics. I don't see myself outside of nationalism, I don't feel entirely inside, I'm not a member of EH Bai, but I join EH Bai in several programmatic paragraphs. The general political change that you mentioned has gradually moved away from ‘absolutism’. EH Bildu in the South and EH Bai in the North go down that road. There is also a rapprochement between them, which is likely to have to be given with complete consistency and respect. In general, everyone is playing their part.

What attitude have the members of the Aquitaine PS had towards you?
Some discovered at first an animal or a rare cabal... Then, over time, I was welcomed with all normality. In the internal debates I have set out my views, without any problems, they knew that, with or without their agreement, I would maintain my vision. Because I remembered that with President Rousset.

Over the years I have realized the great influence that it has to go over parties and get into the contradictions of the debate: Talk about the APR, the social issues, the political and administrative structure of Iparralde. I am more sorry when we talk about the environment, mountain policy and ecology, because they are issues that I manage. Being a patriot does not influence these debates. The government and the political majority of Aquitaine is composed of the PSC, Europa Ekologistak (EELV), Génération.s, which has been broken down from the PS and the leftist parties. Furthermore, we are not the only ones in the committees, there are also right-wing parties, and the extreme right too, which is the strongest group of the opposition. Debates are sometimes hard, but constructive. It is a rich and open policy.

How do you assess the territorial reform of the French State as a regional advisor?
The Regional Council has more and more powers, especially since the adoption of the State Territorial Reform Act (NOTRe). In general, the powers are extended to the Counties and to the Public Authorities. The regions have taken away some units of competence from the state, but, to my liking, few. Many competences have been taken away from the departments. The abolition of the departments that departed from NOTRE and which still need to be developed, but within the state there are many strong lobbys, have made a great effort to join the departments. In fact, the competences of the departments have been emptied, 80% of the agricultural competences have been removed and transferred to the districts. Social competences have remained in the departments and most of them have moved to the districts.

However, the Single Commonwealth of Iparralde has been created in Ipar Euskal Herria, which has made the distribution of competences more important. In my case, as an advisor to the region, I have been fully affected by these changes. The creation of this minority institution in the French Basque Country has also influenced the megas region of the New Aquitaine. The Basque School is the second largest urban school in New Aquitaine, very politically important. The development of new public policies and the beginning of the construction of this institution in Iparralde has been a great step forward. All actors, including Alain Rousset, must be aware of this new political weight.

You represent Mendigune and Artzain. What are your goals as a counselor?
I was a member of the ELB and the EHLG and, as I always am, my objective has been to transfer to the Council, as far as possible, the intentions of the EHLG. That is what I am doing, not exclusively. There are two clearly differentiated directions: you can take public agricultural policy from a productive and liberal perspective, as the FNSEA does. Or in the line of Confédération Paysanne, which has another political and trade union perspective, which works the EHLG of Iparralde. I prioritize that second line. However, not all the projects on mountain farming and pastoril policy are necessarily working in the EHLG, but I must take into account some of the lines that the Pau Chamber of Agriculture has. If these are constructive and complementary projects for our territory, I try to combine both lines.

Two crops are camarotes. Curious.
In general, I can say that it is a special and differentiated panorama, each one has occupied its place in a rather natural way. The last elections have brought a representation similar to that of the agricultural perspective of Ipar Euskal Herria. Over and above the controversy surrounding the results, the ELB has a majority. The debate is contradictory in the world of agriculture, democratic, sometimes it can be notional, but also constructive, it has both sides, basically as in general politics.

What is EHLG illegal, allegal, legal? What a phenomenon!
That is a fundamental issue for me. It was one of the reasons why he accepted Rousset's proposal. In 2015, the majority of the left of the region was an effective travel partner to be considered EHLG official. That was very important in accepting to be a candidate, and since then, I can simply say that we have been strengthened from that collaboration. For the Regional Council, the Basque Country Chamber of Agriculture is an urgent partner, it has gained credibility. It is working on the dossiers of the farmers, obviously with the Pau House. For both projects, it is essential that the Regional Council provide such aid.

There are mountain and plain crops. Is it easy to attach them to both?
The matter is extremely painful. My behaviour comes from political unionism, in some way the largest public aid goes to the large crops of the plains, to the maize and cereal producers, somewhat less than in the state of Aquitaine, but too much to me gusto.Desde that ‘power centre’, which is the Regional Council, I have the capacity to manage a budget, and I try to bring a balance in the distribution of these subsidies. I believe that more public money is allocated than in the past to mountain crops, and also to nearby, high-quality productions. That is what I am doing during my term of office.

Talk about transport. How do you see the APR project?
I attach more importance than to the TAV to the rail between Baiona and Donibane Garazi. We have achieved great achievements against the local general political class, against the state, Rousset has been able to reform that train and now it is up to us to give a greater frequency of daily trains. But it's already done. On the other hand, the APR dossier is zero. In my opinion, it will not move in the short and medium term, nor because Rousset’s vision has changed, at all, he has arguments not to completely rule out the project: he wants to take away the thousands of trucks that pass every day on the highway and put his merchandise on the road. But he also knows that the TAV going from Dax to Hendaia is too expensive, and that the high-speed train can pass through the current line if it fits the railway line. The debate in the French State is widespread and this type of train is not going to get money for basic needs, because there is no money for mega-projects and, above all, because there is no money to get from Europe.

What does the President of Aquitaine, Alain Rousset, think about Euskal Herria?
The Basque Country of Rousset is as far away as it is close. Distant, because it is not Basque, because it is not from here, because it observes the reality here from a broader scope, so its point of view depends on it. It has a lot of dossiers to hack, but it's close, because it knows more or less the power relations that exist here. Rousset, I say this in all humility, if in New Aquitaine dynamics and life - social, economic, cultural and identity - is somewhere, he knows that this is in Iparralde. And, in general, that in the Basque Country there are these components, a people who claim its territory as a Basque, even if it is divided into three administrative areas, and knows that it manages part of that territory, knowing even more about the weight that the Euroregion has taken. Despite the breadth of New Aquitaine, he knows that the CAPV, Navarra and Iparralde, and ultimately Euskal Herria, are the compasses of the Euroregion, as the main construction projects are underway.

We are now talking about the Commonwealth of Iparralde. Instead of the proclaimed Territorial Collectivity, it is an organization recognized by most Abertzales. However, the frustration of some nationalists was evident. What is your opinion? The
Single Community of Iparralde has not at first satisfied the will of all, even today, as several members of EH Bai point out. But, in general, along with this frustration, legitimate Basque political demands are being made, taking into account all sectors. I believe that there is no contradiction, that the change in the political situation to which we have referred has taken away from that absolutism, and therefore has also brought the continuity of the Basque Community. That is to say, making a political public service on the concrete, getting out of pragmatism, and that last word is not a ugly word either. We introduce pragmatism into our daily lives – in the way we manage domestic cooking, schooling children, or in the relationships with the neighborhood. The inclusion of some doses of pragmatism in politics is essential. EH Bai wants to go beyond the competence of the Basque College, in essence I too, and that will also come in due course. That the State, through its legislation, makes it possible to create a political institution in the North, has not been small. The Basque College must be given time to train, it is working on it. The potential in the North will determine whether or not there is a Territorial Community.

In any case, there are also criticisms of some historical militants of the Abertzale left, as well as of the news: there are reminiscences in the Basque sphere. How are the commissioners?
Many of them are my old comrades. I see myself as a reformist revolutionary. But necessarily, the accumulation of years of militancy increases respect among us with age. Respect for what you don't think like you is much higher in 50-60 years than in 20-30 years. I get bored a lot more than I'm 30 and 40 years old with what I like a hundred to a hundred. I have a glimpse of the contradictory debate and in some way complies with what I do not agree with, but I am exhausted even if I do not agree at the end of the debate. I think he brought me something, and maybe it helped him a little bit more. Every day I live with that reality in the performance of my political office.