The accumulation of force around sovereignty is being cuckoated in Basque politics by its usual law during the period. The truth is that it is constantly embedded in the habitual of patriotism, when it has been carried out in concrete expressions, weak, as far as desired, manipulable, a light humble and diffuse, full of potential, that has deeply shaken the reality of the moment. When the former union of activities of the ELA and the LAB, the Lizarra-Garazi agreement, the Basque Country Yes, Navarre Yes... were carried out, the areas affected by them were strongly affected. The influence of the sovereign assembly centers is great because it represents the political and social majority of many territories of the Basque Country and because it has allowed the formation of a minority as very important and conditional in places where it is not.

The Mesa de Malacca is acting as a meeting point, EA wants to strengthen the sovereign space moving away from the shadow of the PNV, ELA and LAB have extended their calls for collaboration, still unable to channel their own, Aralar also does, the National Debate Center continues with its reflections... and the ENAM forces there, on the front line, well positioned as usual, but unwanted and trapped. Far away and distrustful.

There may be numerous obstacles to structuring all these forces around the minimum consensus framework, but three main challenges are identified among many others: One is to consolidate and agree on what sustainable work for sovereignty means today. Two, deactivate the armed activity of ETA, because when the silent work ends, the armed activity and the joint public work of this block is not viable. Three, overcoming electoral dynamics and internalizing a general socio-political activity that looks in the medium and long term, taking into account the multiple realities of the Basque Country. I know it’s a little saying and it’s a lot more complicated than that, but without the first step, if you can’t give the others and internalize these three principles, the new effort will be festive. A degree of ambiguity can be constructive in the first steps, but leaving the doors permanently open to ambiguity is the beginning of the end.

The people of Navarre have once again gone out to the streets to demand the official status of the Basque language for the whole territory. Only the law does not guarantee linguistic development, look at Ireland or, closer, many areas of the Basque Country (administration, areas dependent on Madrid, street, house, work...); but the fact that without law there can be a solid linguistic development in the current Basque Country is fiction. Although much has been done in the UAE over the past 25 years, it is not enough, but the protection of the law opens the doors to gain spaces of superiority. Not in Navarre, and this lack of official status has direct political culprits, from the UPN and CDN that lead the Government of Navarre to the PSN that supports it. Without denying the deep opposing tendencies, the social space they represent is much broader than their activity in Basque.