Last spring, three PNV, PSE, pp and Aralar parliamentarians came to an agreement on the basis of the peace conference. The step, although short, could be thought of, even if the Abertzale left were out of the initiative. It was to be assumed that the normality of the next legislature would reach the fourth leg of the table. That the long conflict required time and discourse. PSE-EE spokesman José Antonio Pastor said with satisfaction: “We don’t have to wait for anyone – from the Abertzale left – I think we can start ourselves.”

He was right, they started in the next legislature, and again cojos. The Basque Parliament approved in February this year the establishment of the working group for peace and coexistence with the support of the PNV and PSE-EE, the votes against pp and UPyD and the abstention of EH Bildu. Pp took a step back, because he thought EH Bildu wasn't being asked enough. As Carmelo Barrio said, “EH Bildu has not yet condemned terrorism and ETA attacks.” Not even in April 2012, but then EH Bildu was not in Parliament. Despite the abstention from the content of the report, EH Bildu decided to participate in the constituent assembly on 11 April.

Four months and three or four meetings later, PNV BBB leader Itxaso Atutxa made clear at the convening of the meeting on 13 September: “If it is to be delayed, the date cannot spoil something so important to this people.” And it will be delayed.

But how important is peace and political normalisation for our people when, two years after ETA stopped acting, the peace dialogue in the Basque Parliament cannot be initiated? And everything indicates no, because, if not, in some agreed forum they should start to speak seriously. For the time being, this is another indicator of the impotence of the major parties and, in particular, of the lehendakari Urkullu in connection with the peace process. In the autumn there will be a number of initiatives to promote the peace process and it seems that the PSE-EE has no intention of mixing the work of the report with that of Patxi López. There will be no second chapter of the Aiete Conference, you can think of it.

The main obstacle, they say, is on the famous ethical ground. According to the PSE, the Abertzale left does not want to accept that the main role of the report is to delegitimize ETA’s past, so it would not make sense for EH Bildu to remain in that place if he did not change his position. This thought reflects the attitude that exists in the antipodes of the beginnings for the process of peace and political normalization that have been given in the world, because the impossible is impossible.

And it is impossible for there to be a single account of the conflict and the suffering experienced, not even if the Abertzale left made a more critical reading of its last 50 years of activity. Just as it is impossible to distinguish first- and second-class victims in the solution. Or regulate by law empathy, forgiveness and feelings. Today, and this is the most serious thing, almost two years after ETA’s announcement, it gives the impression that the process has to be put in place and not so much in its contents. At this rate, if there is no hidden path, that of Western Sahara and the Basque Country should be the only countries in the world that do not carry out a peace process just after the end of the armed conflict.

What if, at this stage, Parliament were not yet the appropriate forum for such a process? Are not the typical tensions and parliamentary discussions for the perseverance, tranquillity and empathy that a space like this requires?

Pp is rarefied in Madrid, the PSOE is afraid of the use it will make of the Basque issue and does not feel the urgency or the need to risk it. The NIP is uncomfortable in this situation, but without the pressure of suffering. And the tight Abertzale left, trapped in the suffocating whirlwind of the prisoners and distressed to get the situation moving. Will the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg unblock the situation by ratifying the rejection of Spain and the Parot doctrine in the coming days or weeks?