The phrase of Joseba Egibar has its essence, as it has left several facts very visible.

First. From the point of view of the PNV, the agreement on the right to decide has its price, to support its neoliberal policy.

Second. The PNV has insulted and humiliated its ally, which it has torn down: you are not autonomous, because you are dependent on the majority union.

The third is that it lays down another criterion for approval: for years now, too, they have accused the Abertzale left of a lack of ethical approval. The last thing you've invented is that you're going to be truly trustworthy when you support this government's policy, which ALS can't tolerate.

Surely the most painful aspect of this interpellation is not evident: Egibar insults EH-Bildu because the PNV does not really value the basic agreement that the Abertzale left has described as “historic”. Because you don't get insulted, let alone in the plaza, to whom you want to be a travel companion. The insult shows that there is no intention of going down that road, which Urkullu repeated repeatedly in the same plenary: that it would be a mistake to accept a new statute with the support of 60% (EH-Bildu), that the articulated text that is decided needs an open door in Madrid...

I do not know whether the Abertzale left will do the duties that Egibar has entrusted to it. But the fact is that the agreement on the bases is deeply dormant, once it has been put into the hands of a committee of jurists (including assistants such as Jaime Iganacio Del Burgo). Apparently, they will complete their work after the municipal, foreign and European elections in May (until more ‘party to democracy’ emerges). Then, the circumstances.

What happened in the General Policy Plenary has once again revealed the attitude of the PNV, which cares about the status of sovereignty, its way of showing its hegemony against the Left, which commands delicately in parliamentary and government action…

That is why the article written by Igor Arroyo in Berria has drawn my attention: The LAB Deputy Secretary-General praises the agreement between the PNV and EH-Bildu on the basis of the agreement. There are no bad words about the ally Egibar. Yes, on the other hand, of the majority union, which, according to Arroyo, benefits both the PNV and the party itself in general.

I think this has revealed some things that were already known: ELA is an objective obstacle for the Basque Left to be approved in institutional policy by supporting the policies of the right. And ELA is an obstacle for the history of the Basque oasis that intend to sell the Jeltzales to be consolidated definitively; a history or discourse that gives a proper echo from morning to night to the clientele and media networks in which we are immersed.

At ELA we are proud of the role we have taken on. That to criticize Arnaldo Otegi for what he says is the easiest thing, I swear it is not. It is not easy to build the opposition, to make pedagogy of alternative discourse, to attract militants for a daily transformation project and to confront the powers. On the contrary, it is difficult and tiresome. Worse still, victory is not guaranteed. That is all that needs to be done.

I believe that a chimera must be ruled out: the institutional majority is not real; it cannot be attacked in the sky; the left is not unless we descend to the hell of precariousness; there is no sovereignty without winning those impoverished majorities; we have to accept that in these times of neoliberal hegemony we have to make a journey in the desert until a new “block” is formed (if we succeed). This block would be “historic”, and not an agreement on bases, to which ELA mocks, but one of the signatories.

IGOR Arroyo refers to the statement released a year ago by ELA and LAB. I also agree with the need for its development, assuming the commitment expressed in the text: “Promote leftist alliances and collaborate. To do so, the political left must prioritize the social agenda as the basis of the sovereign agenda.”

We will meet in the demonstrations.

Xabi Anza, member of the ELA Executive Committee.