They have set in motion a process to analyse the strategy of the Abertzale left over the past five years and lay the foundations for the future. The document agreed in 2010, Zutik Euskal Herria, has guided the course of recent years and its most important decision was the end of the armed struggle. Despite this, the ETA organisation that has carried out it is still alive with its weapons. In reality, it may not be so important, but symbolically yes. In this process, the Abertzale left will have to deal with a lot of knot that separate it. Here are a few.

Scope of influence. It is a process led by sortu, but it intends to influence the whole of the Abertzale left. So what is the Abertzale left, who makes the decisions and who affects? The case is historic, but during the armed struggle, the expression of ETA has been key, probably as in other experiences where the armed struggle has a lot of strength. The popular unit based on HB was key until the arrival of the times of illegalization. Batasuna and sortu have brought other forms of organization, but in the first case, the illegalization did not allow the normal political development of any model. Sortu has had the opportunity to do better, and it seems to be the axis of the Abertzale left par excellence. It is not clear how, and that is what Abian wants to consolidate. From the historical point of view, it is evident that the formula of the citizen unity was an éxito.Una of the keys is that the Abertzale left is read with great flexibility. Furthermore, how does this combine with the current electoral formula?

Media. Taking the Abertzale left as a broad sociological space, there is no doubt that Batasuna and Sortu were right to guide the end of the armed struggle. There has been much discussion about how that decision was made, whether it had legitimacy or not, because the decision was taken by Batasuna and not by all the representatives of the institutions of the Abertzale left. The debate is going to be there forever, but that is the story that is being imposed. It is clear, however, that the larger side of the Abertzale left – the militancy of Batasuna – wanted to put an end to the path of arms. In the sociological sphere, the minority that wanted to continue with arms was very small.

Political line. But it is clear that Sortu did not quite get it right in the political direction, at least in the short term. It was a great success with EH Bildu’s electoral formula, but not in the configuration of its political base, which surely has meant an electoral crisis that has been reflected with all its grief in the general elections in Spain. The attempt to build a peace process has failed him, there has been no negotiation and, from his point of view, the most serious consequence of the conflict, that of the prisoners, remains pending. The hope generated in the return of prisons has led to a high degree of despair and problems.

Independence is one of the strategic objectives of the Abertzale left and this view is also intended to be corrected now: the right to decide can serve as a meeting point, but if no one firmly treats independence, daily life can lead it to disappear from the foreground.

Another consequence of the electoral success of the leftist movements on the Abertzale left is that the institutional dynamic has further weakened the rich social movement, which in itself was weak. Without feeding each other, the institutional movement sinks or weakens in particular. If Abian's successor empowers his sociological base. Basically, the pattern of negotiation has covered that of democratic confrontation.

People. It's hard to innovate a lot if it doesn't allow for new nudges from old and infected generations of inertia. I can be wrong, but, at least seen from the outside, in the most important places are almost the same people, they run them and decide them. The conference of Rufi Etxeberria in Pamplona, among other things, is a good example of this. Arnaldo Otegi will go out into the street in the middle of the debate, and even though he has very well known leadership, they don't do miracles, much less.