The photo we saw in the press on February 18 was great. However, the Council of Elects, the Development Council, the Baiona Chamber of Commerce, the Assembly of Mayors of Iparralde and the Batera platform affirmed that they constituted a coordination to jointly carry the Territorial Community project for Euskal Herria. On her side were also the delegations she presented to Minister Marylise Lebranchu in the framework of this project of institutionalization. The whole political spectrum was represented, starting with the Abertzales to the UMP, including socialists, greens and centrists.

This coordination is an unprecedented political fact and, in this phase of the struggle for knowledge in Ipar Euskal Herria, an ideal tool. Although it is a harvest of years of work, the result of the acceleration we have known in 2012 is the right one. Throughout the year, the project of the Single Commonwealth of Iparralde has been studied and defined in a participatory manner, which has meant that beyond traditional sectors, adhesions to the political class have been extended. On 24 November, following the line of the other coordinating bodies, the Council of Elects unanimously ratified the question of the Single Commonwealth of Iparralde. It was a logical succession and after three months it has emerged naturally: joining forces to make the voice of Euskal Herria heard in the face of Paris.

If nothing is won for Euskal Herria, everything is possible even at this time marked by the legislative timetable. However, next April the government will present a law in the French Parliament setting out a new phase of decentralization. The arguments used for years to deny the knowledge of the institutions have fallen successively in the French Government. The project we have worked on is a rounded, simple, democratic and strong project. The other administrative arrangements mentioned at one time did not go beyond the stage of reflection and debate. The fruit of noise is ripe. It must fall, it must fall.

This coordination will be put in place to make the Commonwealth project known and to be taken into account by both the Government and Parliament. The main initiatives and citations have already been consolidated: The motion of the Council of Elects will be requested from the Mayors and on 1 June there will be a great popular mobilization in Baiona. Undoubtedly, one of the most important mobilizations in recent years for Iparralde’s society.