Iñaki Aldekoa moved from Herri Batasuna to Aralar in 2000. Aralar was one of the five lines on the Abertzale left on the road to the creation of a new party, the Lizarra-Garazi Agreement. Here are some of the lines that the interlocutor told us about this process: “For us it was necessary to end the era of armed struggle a long time ago... Navarre needed its own framework to decide... And the rules of procedure of the new party had to be clearly laid down. More than those who formed the Union, we received terrible attacks from the MLNV.”

What has Aralar brought in these ten years? Which Abertzale left is currently being structured?

We have succeeded in getting the official Abertzale left to recognize the first of these three points: The result has been brought together. The Abertzale left has also approved the coalition's decision-making framework in Navarre. And the internal democratic structures will also materialise. We were born to carry them out, not to get political results. Patxi Zabaleta says that “the party to be created is Aralar without Aralar”. In politics, it is about achieving goals, not being a protagonist. Apparently, society does not want Aralar to be the protagonist, so we accept it. Likewise, Aralar has provided an ethical impulse for political action on the Abertzale left. The rest of the parties outside the Abertzale left have been clear, but in the area of the Abertzale left no. And that wasn't Aralar's goal, but that's been created along the way, we've helped create a new political culture.

Aralar Hegoalde and V. Congress Recently held a congress. You have decided to go with Bildu to the elections to the Spanish Congress. The decision was taken by a majority in two of the votes, although one sector was against.

In the Hegoalde Assembly there were two positions opposed to the coalition’s proposal to go with Bildu. One of them, that of several members of Aralar of the CAV, was arrested in Vitoria-Gasteiz. They were against it right from the start. Another thing is the attitude of the members of Aralar de Navarra. Some of them think that NaBai, being a special and productive instrument, had to endure. But these were not against going inside Bildu, they were afraid that Aralar's management would leave with Bildu to the CAV to pay some price in Navarre. However, the Fifth Assembly adopted the text. This was clarified during Congress. The training proposal was to reach an agreement between NaBai and Bildu in Navarre and the CAV, between Bildu and Aralar, among others. In Navarre, however, it was not possible to maintain the dialogue because Uxue Barkos and the PNV refused to do so. Your veto has been total, we have not been able to discuss it.

What has changed since May for Aralar to make this change?

One: Let Bildu be legal. When we discussed with EA whether we wanted to go within what Bildu would be or not, it was the most dangerous thing to reach an agreement and that we were all left out. Now all of this looks very easily. The fact that Bildu was legal radically changed the situation. Two: In these elections we have the objective of achieving five seats, they are not elections to the Parliament of Navarra. Three: of course, we have doubts about the creation of the new party of the Abertzale left, with the Sortu case, like all parties, but Basque society has given a great deal of support to Bildu, and we cannot dismiss him. In this new situation, negotiation was necessary. In Navarre, NaBai and Bildu had to go together. The PNV's rejection of the Abertzale left proposal has highlighted its interests.

The independent Zabaltzen of NaBai and the PNV will attend the meeting in Navarre in favour of them.

Yes, but you're going to have to make another coalition, because it looks like there's a Villava party on the way. We don't know by what name. They say they're the spirit of NaBai. They will need a strong spirit, because EA, Aralar and Batzarre have gone from another, the latter, from it. I mean crucially, in that coalition are the people of the PNV, the people of the old.

Uxue Barkos, José Luis Mendoza, Koldo Martínez, Serrano IZKO are independent and have obtained the support of the Diputación de Gipuzkoa.

Uxue Barkos came to NaBai along the lines of the PNV and EA, and it is true that then, above all, it was Uxue Barkos NaBai who led the candidature. I am politically critical of his attitude, but I very much appreciate Uxue. The weight he has had in NaBai, both outdoors and indoors, is very large. It has maintained a very strong attitude towards the PNV and EA, and acted as independent. Mendoza and Martínez are independent but from the orbit of the PNV. Serrano Izko didn't, and others didn't. But most of them are around the PNV and Hamaikabat. The speech they defend within NaBai is in favor of transversality and against frentism. Is the current coalition frightening? Is the Alternatiba party independent? After all, the coalition that will be created will be in the orbit of the PNV, there is no more political space in nationalism.

They have reached an agreement with the left Abertzale, EA and Alternatiba. Why go to Madrid?

In Aralar’s view, the mindset has also changed a lot, and it will change a lot more. We know that these are contradictions within the Union. Many still think, "What has been lost to us in Madrid? ". And we say, "We play a lot." And we don't just have to go to defend our principles, to reclaim Euskal Herria. Decisive decisions are taken every day at the Congress of Deputies in Madrid. For example: fusion of the Basque boxes. The scope of the boxes is decided by the Congress of the Deputies of Madrid. In Navarre and the CAV there are the laws of the boxes, but within the framework decided by Madrid. The ongoing merger has been the result of a change in the law in Madrid. In other words, left-wing parliamentarians can influence the laws of the economy, taxation, the agricultural industry and the environment, and to that end we must establish alliances with the left-wing forces of the state. The Abertzale left has never worked in this political area, since it considers that this institution was the guarantor of state reform. It has made inú concessions tiles.Ahora it has to endorse those zones of decision and struggle.

What are the bases of the agreement to assist the Congress of Deputies?

Three. First: we are not going to Madrid to take credentials and goodbye to Ben-Hur. Some of Congress’s policies are a priority, as has already been mentioned. We need to clarify what kind of policies we are going to do in some areas, but we are going to focus on the legal intention that is going to be worked on. Second: According to the agreement, we respect the uniqueness of Navarre and the will of the Navarros and Navarras. Third: Peace and political normalization will be based on the points of the Gernika Agreement.

How does the Gernika Agreement look?

Many of the ideas in the agreement are from Aralar, the fruit of a hard fight for them. One of them is to give a definitive and definitive ceasefire to ETA, which is fundamental. Another mention of amnesty is: Some of those in Batasuna refused to write the word amnesty. In other words, the prisoners themselves should recognize their right to decide. The Group of Basque Political Prisoners (EPPK) has not yet signed the Gernika Agreement, which reflects the existence of great resistance among prisoners of eta. Signing the most important groups of prisoners would be a big step. However, we are seeing closer and closer the signing of the EPPK. The Gernika Agreement has become a key year for political standardisation.

In the meantime, the National Court has issued an extremely serious judgment in the Bateragune case.

These moments were similar to those we met in the last elections when the Supreme Court illegalized Bildu. This problem is obviously political, the Spanish Government has politicised cases rather than doing justice. Now the resources will come and we will see. But it's a terrible hurdle. On the one hand, it seems that ETA and its environment still have difficulties in moving forward, and on the other, the state also has tremendous problems, as both sides feed each other in some way. For example, Count Pumpid said that “as long as ETA exists, Sortu will not be legal.” But who is the state prosecutor to say that? In the Basque problem, the political interests of the State are obvious, and that decision has also been political.

Both in the Bateragune case and in the legalisation of sortu, the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court will have to rule. Are you hopeful?

Yes. In the legalisation of Sortu the Supreme also voted against, but I believe that the Constitutional Court will somehow rectify the judgment. Sortu will finally have to be legalised, but not in time to participate in the elections. The judgment in the Bateragune case is a judgment without a legal basis and I am convinced that the Constitutional Court sends it in the medium term. At the moment, the control of the political rhythm is at stake and in competition, and the political powers use it through the decisions of the courts.

ETA remains silent, without taking steps.

Yes. If steps are not taken in the Bateragune and Sortu cases, there is always a risk that the process will slow down. If, however, a further step is taken in the elections on 20 November, ETA will be the one that will take the final step. This process is irreversible.