EH Gather Coalitions III. He held a congress at the Palacio de Balaña in Pamplona last weekend to lay the groundwork for the coming years and renew his political leadership. There was no doubt, and the Companions have almost unanimously approved it: Arnaldo Otegi will be Secretary General again.

The coalition has adopted a prospective political report with the presentation of three broad proposals: the development of a national strategy to continue to represent the nationalism, independence and sovereignty of the left throughout the Basque Country; the formation of minimum programs of broad consensus common to the rest of the parties, not for municipal and provincial elections, not even at the community level, but with a view to Spain and Europe; and finally, the aim is to continue democratizing power and governance, striving to structure collaborative governments, oriented towards the participation of the peoples and other areas of political responsibility.

"First the country, then the party"

During both the Pamplona Congress and the interview with Euskadi Radio the day after the Congress, the Secretary General of EH Bila, Arnaldo Otegi, stressed that: "First the country, then the party. More than a party, we are a movement; we have managed to bring together very broad people around a program."

On the resolution that puts the idea of unified lists on the table, Otegi says: “Some elections don’t have to be to compete between us. We make the proposal to all those who think that we are a nation and have the right to decide. We propose that there be a candidacy that brings a popular voice to Madrid and Europe, united around a program of minorities." In any case, he has also made the determination, because in "socio-economic matters" they do not coincide [he was referring to the PNV], but on the contrary, yes, in the question of the national perspective. "Then, when we are there [in the Spanish and/or European parliaments], everyone can defend their own economic vision," says Otegi.

Ball to EAJ

Last Friday it was known that Andoni Ortuzar will not continue to lead the PNV and that, at the end of the internal process, in the remainder of March, Aitor Esteban will be appointed as the new head of the PNV.

Otegi has been consulted on the subject, which has not been too wet, but he reports that he had a close relationship with Ortuzar, that they met frequently, and that they have built "trust frames" for years, although rarely reaching consensus: "Sometimes we have made agreements, in the least, and in most cases disagreements."In the meantime, the two have been talking "informally" about the issue of joint lists, Otegi said, but without getting anywhere. On the other hand, they both have a passion for strengthening their political status and have recently indicated that they are working on it.

In this regard, Otegi said that he expects Esteban to "continue on the same path" by assuming the leadership of the PNV. They don’t have a relationship, though. In any case, "here it is necessary to define a popular project before negotiating with the state [Spain]," according to Otegi, who hopes that Esteban's new team will continue in the shape of Ortuzar. "We do not represent a Basque Country without an PNV, we believe that a solid PNV is needed, of course, with us from above, and we will fight this legitimately, but we believe that there must be spaces for collaboration," Otegi said.