The Basque Country is five years old and has little to be the first local currency in Europe. The Basque Currency is an initiative that is having a great success in the continental Basque Country and I find it a pride that it has been heading from the bottom to the top. In addition, it has been a very important step in the construction and implementation of alternatives: a useful tool that is prepared from society. Think globally and act locally if you can add the dimension of time to the slogan: now. Because without waiting for the strategic plans of the future, it is also a tool to undertake in the present.

The objectives of the Basque currency are very diverse and therein lies its success: relocation, the Basque country, the energy, ecological transition, the local trade... Users and advocates of the Basque Country are as diverse as their objectives. From this reality, Dante Edme Sanjurgo, director general of the association, praises one of the results of the Basque country: the currency has the capacity to build bridges between very different sectors of society.

In addition, I would like to highlight another great contribution from the Basque Country: bringing the economy closer to society through the local currency. In other words, it contributes to the social reintegration of the economy: by putting money, the market and the economy at the service of society.

In some municipalities in the Basque Country, such as Hendaia or Uztaritze, local authorities have joined this initiative by becoming partners in the Basque Country. Moreover, they have also taken steps on their own, such as swimming pools and media outlets, which have given the option of paying in Basque. This inter-municipal alliance undoubtedly fills the Basque Currency with value.

It is exciting to see the trajectory of the Basque Country. What we defend at the theoretical level, seeing that it works in practice gives joy. The City of Baiona signed an agreement with the Basque Country in the summer of 2017. Through this agreement, the municipality allowed the payment of various expenses through the Basque system: salaries to elected representatives, subsidies to associations or various bills. This decision by the City of Baiona must be well considered. Even more so if we bear in mind that the Mayor, Jean-René Etchegaray, is also the President of the Commonwealth of Iparralde.

If the Baiona City Council has taken this step, it is because it recognises the value of the Basque Currency. Or, if not, because they coincide with the values that the Basque country wants to enhance.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I do not know, the French State has also realized the power of the Basque: The guards of the Hexagon have brought the agreement between the City of Baiona and the Basque Country to the courts of Pau. No wonder: what for some is a victory, for others is a source of incomodidad.Afortunadamente (now yes), the Basque Country has emerged victorious, as the judge of Pau has confirmed the legality of the agreement, which is pending. For the time being, there is much to celebrate, but the prefect of Pau wants to bring the case to the courts in Bordeaux.

Meanwhile, as the Basque Country continues to make its way daily, we are learning and seeing a lot. A step towards monetary sovereignty enables progress to be made in other dimensions of sovereignty. When does this happen? When the currency becomes a bellows rather than an obstacle.