Good morning everyone:

“In consonance with and in reaffirmation of the imprescriptible rights of Basque nationality, consecrated most particularly by History, the Basque Nationalist Party hereby proclaims the right of the Basque People to freely express their wishes and for their decision to be considered as the only legal source of their political status, which entails the correlative duty of respecting these wishes. The Basque Nationalist Party, in accordance with the principles of democracy, accepts and solemnly proclaims such duty” (Euzkadi Buru Batzar, 5 March 1949).

This principle was voiced and reaffirmed by a persecuted party, whose leaders and members were at that time suffering prison, execution squads and exile. These were all representatives of a generation which, in a word, bequeathed us their dignity in the defence of human rights and freedom. Dignity and commitment, which have been and still are the main baggage of this political party, and the source of the Basque Nationalist Party’s democratic legitimacy.

Fifty-five years after this declaration was made, I feel proud to be a member of the party of the Agirre family, the Irujo family, Leizaola, Landaburu, Ajuriagerra, Rezola, Retolaza, and of so many other families. Of all those who kept the flame alive in clandestinity. Today, as at that meeting of the Euzkadi Buru Batzar in 1949, we again proclaim the right of the Basque People to freely express their wishes and for this decision to be considered as the only legal source of our political status. It is an honour for me to take up the baton of those who fought for the cause of the declaration, and all the more so to take up the baton from a man who, after the tunnel of dictatorship and exile, has successfully held the post of party leader over the most fructiferous 23 years in the history of Basque nationalism: Xabier Arzalluz.

My thanks to everyone. I feel that chairing the Euzkadi Buru Batzar is an undertaking to my nation, to Euskadi, and to the Party of which I have been a member for 26 years. It is, however, also an honour, a great honour.

Many years ago when, following the excision, the Party infrastructure was at minimum levels in Urretxu and Zumarraga, we called Xabier Arzalluz to a meeting at the batzoki. In particular, what we wanted was to turn up the heat and gain support for those of us, after the trauma of the internal split, who were trying to keep the Party flame alive in our villages. This was in the weeks leading up to the municipal elections in which I was head of the lists for the Basque Nationalist Party. At dinner Xabier said to me by way of encouragement in my new task: “Josu Jon, zu etxerako” (You will be in charge of the house).

“Zu etxerako” was not merely a colloquial expression for Xabier. He himself confessed once that a few years previously after a rally in Bermeo, an extremely ardent lady member had said the same thing to him: “Arzalluz, zu etxerako”. Xabier said this was the most beautiful thing anybody had ever said to him. This, in Basque farmsteads, where the head of the family was keen to ensure continuity of the caserío, was how they chose the son who was to carry out this task. So, Xabier, I can assure you that it is also the most beautiful thing anybody has ever said to me. I will take care of the house, as those before us took care of it - Jesús Insausti “Uzturre” and Román Sudupe in the difficult years of 1984, 1985 and 1986 – and as you have taken care of it over the last 23 years. I will care for it with the dignity and emphasis set out in this poem by Gabriel Aresti:

Nire aitaren etxea defendituko dut. Otsoen kontra, sikatearen kontra, lukurreiaren kontra, justiziaren kontra, defenditu eginen dut nire aitaren etxea.
Ni hilen naiz, nire arima galduko da, nire askasia galduko da, baina nire aitaren etxeak iraunen du zutik.

It is an honour for me to take up the baton of dignity from Xabier. I was 15 when I joined the Party, and at 17 I was a member of the Regional Eusko Gaztedi Council in Gipuzkoa and also of the National Council. During those years, 1979, 1980 and 1981, I had the chance to go to a number of talks by Xabier Arzalluz. His personality had a profound impact on me. On those occasions, Xabier told us more than once as younger members of the two challenges we faced to construct our country, to build the Basque nation: Euskera and technology. Euskera ta teknologia was the binomial which, from an early age, I saw as my own small contribution to build the Euskadi I wanted. Opposing the predominant discourse of the time, more bent on destruction than on construction, Xabier regaled younger activists with his wisdom. He demanded hard work, commitment and contribution. And I was hooked. Just like so many of you here today.

Today, when we speak of technology convergence, R+D and innovation, I wish to claim this for Xabier’s vision. 25 years ago, practically nobody was paying any attention to these matters. This was 1977, and not one of the Spanish State’s research units was located in the Basque Country. Investment in research and technology in the Basque Country was simply not what should have been expected of a developed country. Four times less than in the Spanish State, which was also at some distance behind with respect to Europe.

Within that context, five incipient laboratories were attempting to make a humble contribution to the development of technology in Euskadi. It was the time of the constituent legislature in the Central Parliament (1977-79), and the member for Gipuzkoa at that time, Xabier Arzalluz, held meetings with the heads of the laboratories. Arzalluz was concerned by the lack of infrastructure in Basque facilities, and began to make arrangements with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to acquire old apparatus through cooperation programmes, within the framework of defence agreements between the Spanish State and the United States. Some of the units obtained by Arzalluz are still kept as relics at one of the up-and-coming research centres.

Today, only 25 years after this initiative by Xabier Arzalluz to bring in second-hand equipment from cooperation programmes, Basque technology development is a genuine reference within Europe, increasing investment in R+D twenty times over and leading the Spanish by 50%.

Today, only 25 years after that speech to younger party members to encourage technology and Euskera as the employment focus for our people, our language has developed on a large scale. Nowadays it is more than normal to find doctoral theses in Basque, and the language has reached levels of normality in business administration, in sport, in quantum physics, and within the family. In Lapuebla de Labarka, in Lizarra and in Muskiz.

Xabier, it was you who created the objective, and you who passed on the message. It was your pioneer suggestion of the double promotion strategy of Euskera and technology as representative exponents of the need to combine tradition and innovation, identity and opening up to the world outside. And these are precisely two of the major concepts with which we are now building the Basque society of the 21st century. Many thanks for everything, Xabier. When our sons and daughters are learning History, History will speak of you as you deserve, whereas the immense majority of your detractors will scarcely manage a mention in the tale.

It is we who must now delve deeper into the objectives which you and your generation wisely drew up. Our project is none other than taking and adapting the legacy of those before us, analysing it in the context of the modern world, and defining the best possible way to reach the objective set out at that meeting of the EBB in 1949: for Basque society to express its own wishes and construct its future based on itself. Defining and constructing the Basque nation in a globalised world. A Basque nation open to the world outside, as suggested by the poet Detxepare five hundred years ago: "Mundura ialgi" and “Eman da zabalzazu munduan frutua" in Iparraguirre’s "Gernikako Arbola".

Technological development has driven our economy over the last 25 years, and has changed our society in particular. Customs and ways of life, social relationships and international relationships are a different matter in an interconnected world. We now talk openly of technological change created by information and communications technology and, more specifically, of its effects on societies, political structures, the nation-state and concepts such as sovereignty.

In an enormous world with large open spaces, in which Europe, despite the opposition of some short-sighted leaders, is moving toward towards political union and a joint Constitution, some may feel that there is no space left for smaller concerns, that there is no room for people who, like us, seek recognition and development of a small nation within the European context.

However, without ignoring the undeniable process of globalisation, objective data show exactly the opposite: that small concerns are those which are adapting best to the new world balance. Large operations and economies of scale also cease to be a factor of competitiveness for nations, and small operations show better adaptability to the hectic transformations of the new society. Small companies and newly created companies are becoming world leaders with sound products. Europe now has more states than it has ever had in the last 150 years, and nationalities, regions and homogenous communities are emerging to demand more self-government, in a bid to improve the lifestyle of their people. The inscription on the Aulestia family’s Markina coat-of-arms is most significant:

Bekoak goikoa ezkon leidi. Txikiak handia bentzi leidi, asmoz eta jakitez.

With willpower and knowledge, cultures, languages and identities which had been minoritised for many years had set out on a revitalisation process because citizens require increasingly closer references. A global society obviously has many advantages, and plans for a united world are not alien to the ideas of a humanist party such as ours. Human beings, however, require an anchoring system, points of reference, a personalised soul. Thus, in a world which tends to unite, smaller concepts, a separate nation, the language, the feeling of identity, are becoming increasingly important. Political structures and states are watertight compartments which will eventually disappear. In a new on-line world, a previously unimaginable dual concept is emerging. Distances and borders are disappearing, but what is also disappearing is the concept of central and peripheral, of large and small.

We are on the threshold of new transformations. Opportunities and threats, in fact, for a brand of nationalism such as the Basque variety, which attempts to maintain and develop dynamic identity. It is extremely important that we analyse it carefully in order to mark out our own route, for what is at stake here is passing on the baton in good condition for the generations to come. Our objective is simply to leave our sons and daughters a society in better condition in terms of construction and development than the society we inherited.

I feel there are five basic concepts which make up our own particular political paraphernalia, laid down in our statements, in our reflections, in our baggage as a party, and which I would like to dwell upon today. Some of the aspects I am particularly keen to cultivate during this four-year mandate are as follows:

 Commitment as a value.
 Construction of a civic Basque nation.
 The European project.
 Peace and human rights.
 Solidarity.

Firstly, commitment as a value. I would like to say a few words about society values and party values. We live in a society in which individualism, progress, comfort and involvement in a personal project are sometimes the only example for young people to follow. And a political project demands commitment. A project of national and social construction requires people to be involved in collective projects. It demands sacrifice. Positions of responsibility in the party and institutions require us to be prepared to forgo our best professional years, and use them towards a common objective which we believe in and care about. We must foster dedication and commitment as major Party values. There can be no nation without commitment. The exercise of power for the sake of it, access to posts of political responsibility as merely reaching personal objectives and goals prostitute any political project, and are frankly lethal to a party which is building a nation.

We have to build the future. This means that commitment from young people is essential. Only young people with a commitment to the present can build in the years to come. It is the responsibility of the Party to give them a path to follow. To channel their activities. The generation I represent is here today because 20 years ago certain people promoted our active political involvement. We are obliged to do the same with the youth of today.

We must cultivate commitment of people to their country, their society and their fellow citizens. We must encourage youth to become involved. As a political organisation, we must work at commitment both inside the Party and within society in general. These are values we hold extremely dear, and today we need them more than ever. I undertake as chairman of the Euzkadi Buru Batzar to promote these values within the Party.

Committed parties and people must have an objective. Ours is extremely clear: Construction of a civic Basque nation. A nation of citizens. A nation composed of all of us who live here, regardless of whether we were born in Bilbao, Etxegarate, in the Serena valley or in Senegal. Where all men and women have the same civil and political rights, and where citizens are nationals by the mere fact that they are citizens, as the Lehendakari [Head of the Basque Government] rightly points out in the proposal for a new political statute. A nation where the main bond between all the people in this country is not the bond of where we are from, but where we wish to go. A nation which claims historical rights laid down in law, and bases its future on the wish of its citizens to take part in a common project and build a common future. In short, a civic nation of free citizens who share the present and wish to build the future together, with the right to freely express our wishes and to build our political status over these wishes. Joxe Migel Barandiaran’s thousand years of the Basque People and Lizardi’s gure asaba zaharren baratza are now the Euskal Hiria of our time. It is the civic nation, an open and integrating motherland, which will build Euskadi in the 21st century, with no defensive intentions, nor will it be a construction to oppose anyone – rather, it will show solidarity with others. This Koldo Mitxelena taught us in one of his most expressive legacies: “I feel there is nothing essential or inalterable in a people and its characteristics: all things change. The only essential characteristic is continuity”.

The European project, and Basque participation in it, is another of our objectives. As far back as 1937, the lehendakari Agirre took part with Landaburu and his generation in the embryo of that Europeanist movement which was the origin of the European Union we know today. It was in 1939, from his office at number 11 Avenue Marceau in Paris, that Agirre initiated the contacts which led him to participate in the adventure. He occupied the office until 1951, except for the years of Nazi occupation of Paris. In 1951, the application of a sentence handed down by a court from the period of Nazi occupation and pressure from Franco’s fascist régime deprived the Party of the office, purchase of which Ajuriagerra had arranged in 1936. It is a disgrace that 64 years after Nazi troops occupied Paris, the Spanish Government refuses to return the premises, the fruits of Nazi expoliation, now the Instituto Cervantes in Paris. We will get it back. We will get it back in homage to José Antonio Agirre, our first lehendakari, the man who did most to internationalise the cause of the Basque people.

If we analyse the lives of the fathers of the European project, such as Schumann, De Gasperi or Adenauer, they all have one thing in common: they had direct experience of the non-sense of frontiers. Schumann, a member of the French government, was the father of the idea for the origins of the European Union, the high commissioner for coal and steel. His father was from Lorraine, and was born when the region was part of France, although Schumann himself was born German after 1876 and the Franco-Prussian war. Years later, he became French in 1918, and then German again in 1940, only to become French again just four years later in 1944. He was certainly always a native of Lorraine, but wars had made him change his nationality a number of times. He had suffered from frontiers, which are nothing more than the scars of warfare down through the years.

De Gasperi, another of the fathers of Europe, was the president of Italy. The Austrian parliament in Vienna still has a seat with a plaque, in remembrance of where De Gasperi used to sit as a member of the chamber because he was from the Trentino region, which became part of Italy along with the southern Tyrol in Austria in 1918.

The German chancellor Adenauer was originally from the Rheinland, an area which had undergone international demilitarisation after 1918. They were all frontier men. As was our lehendakari José Antonio Agirre who, as a Basque, was part of a people torn apart by a frontier. One part in the Spanish State and another in the French State, separated only by a historical scar which made foreigners of our brothers and sisters on the other side of the River Bidasoa.

That is why we believe in Europe. In a Europe without frontiers. We do not want any new frontiers. We have already suffered enough with frontiers to be encouraging more frontiers and Nation-states nowadays. We want to remove existing frontiers, and so we believe in a common space which respects all nations, peoples, cultures and languages within the space. The Europe under construction will provide us with new routes, and our project for Euskadi will be linked to the possibilities and scenarios which will be available to us within the new European framework.

We believe in a Europe in which the Basque Country is respected, where we make our own contribution to a common patrimony. Connected and open to others, using the advantages which paradiplomacy can offer these days to a nation such as ours. That is why we will always support any steps, short though they may be, in this direction. It is a positive thing for Europe to have a single currency, allowing us to make our purchases in euros in Finland and Germany, in the north and in the south of the Basque Country. It is a positive thing that we are moving forward in terms of a common European foreign policy – as should have been the case during the Iraq crisis – and it is also a positive thing for us to have a European judicial and security space. Criminals and mafia gangs know there are no borders, and so there must also be European cooperation in these areas. And our police force, the Ertzaintza, must be part of it. Only the ultranationalism of the Spanish Government prevents the Ertzaintza from working with Paris or Brussels in order to deal more effectively with crime or ETA’s terrorist activity. Because, deep down, they do not like Europe.

It was the current short-sightedness of Madrid which destroyed the European project for a common Constitution. Of course, it is not entirely our project, since we would have preferred a more advanced concept with greater recognition of nationalities and peoples. But it is what is possible today, and from Agirre and Arzalluz we have learned that it is always better to accept steps in the right direction, even if the steps taken do not move us as far as we would like. We need warm hearts, cool heads and our feet on the ground. In Europe as well. This is why we support a European Constitution. Not like other people, who disguise their Spanish ultranationalism with false constitutionalism.

Peace and human rights. This is another value which forms part of our political baggage, and which we must conquer. The Basque Nationalist Party has a firm commitment to this country, with one clear priority: peace. Before you, I solemnly undertake to make this our major priority. We need peace, and we will seek peace. With all the work it takes. I echo the words of Joxe Mari Korta in the now historical Institutional Declaration of 14 May 1999 at a public gathering which I had the honour of attending with him:

May peace finally come to Euskadi and give us a Country where it is worthwhile investing, generating wealth and employment, where people can agree to differ.

And it is even more emotional for me to recall that magnificent paragraph he bequeathed to us in the declaration:

We commit ourselves publicly and we involve ourselves, because peace is a basic value worth taking risks for, and even making mistakes for.

Joxe Mari Korta was murdered not long afterwards by ETA – heartless, totalitarian and fascist – on 8 August 2000, like many others who have fallen in the struggle. I echo the words of Joxe Mari, who tells us to take risks for a basic value which is peace and respect for human life. We in the Basque Nationalist Party also said this in the document on pacification in February 1997:

Thus the PNV is willing to take risks and move to achieve peace, without reaching the point that we cease to be what we are, by adopting, or allowing ourselves to be moved by strategies, tactics or cooperation which are incompatible with our political identity, which has been extremely clear for one hundred years – in other words, we must not abandon or impair our alternative or our political strategy.




So we are seeking paths to follow. As Korta said, we are going to take risks. But that does not mean we are about to give up our trajectory, or deny what we are. We did not do it in Txiberta 27 years ago, and we are much less inclined to do so in the year 2004. Basque society demands that ETA disappear, aware that the end of violence will open the doors to political agreements with all sides, and will allow Basques to pronounce on their own future in peace and freedom, as defined by the Lehendakari in his proposal for co-existence. Because an end to ETA cannot be subject to blackmail, or to armed tutelage, or to anyone forgoing their own political path and project, or to abstraction of the plural nature of Basque society, or to refusal to grant all political formations the legitimate right to represent Basques, from the legitimacy which their votes give them. Not one more, but not one less either.

We will take risks on our path, and we will also continue to staunchly defend the rights of all persons. In the village of Obanos in Navarra in the Middle Ages, the motto of the infanzón nobles was “Pro libertate patriae, gens libera state”. For the freedom of the country, free men, stand up. This was the motto for our last Alderdi Eguna in Navarra in 1981, in Aiegi. There can be no freedom without free men and women. It is intolerable that in Euskadi, in the Autonomous Community and in Nafarroa, there are people holding public posts who, merely because they think in a different way, belong to certain political parties, or are the popular representatives of political formations, are threatened and persecuted. It is a cynical attitude when someone who claims to want to build our country retains the death penalty for people just because they think differently.

Of course, the socio-political project of those who defend such an aberration is not ours. We will fight tooth and nail for the right of all persons in this country to think and defend their legitimate political projects. And the 31,000 members of the Basque Nationalist Party will have to make up a real army of active solidarity with all those who live under threat in this country. Because there can be no freedom in a nation without freedom for its inhabitants.

We defend the rights of all persons, and so we will always denounce conculcation of the rights of prisoners and their families, regardless of how terrible any crimes they have committed may be. One of the differences between a democratic State and the jungle is that in a democratic State the sentences are served by those who commit crimes, not by the families, and they are not served on the basis of vengeance and incommunication, but rather in the spirit of reinsertion. And all persons are subject to the law. It is for this reason that we denounce the prisons strategy of the Partido Popular government as ethically inhumane and politically counterproductive.

Rights, however, cannot be restricted merely to the political community, and also affect social environments. Equal rights affect gender. One Basque Nationalist Party priority is effective equality of women’s rights in all social spheres, with particular emphasis on the implementation of all public policies required to remove the scourge of gender violence.

We also claim the rights of a segment of the population which was discriminated against for many years, has been continuously dispossessed of its rights, and still cannot exercise its right to equality today along with other citizens. I refer to both female and male homosexuals, persons who, as citizens of our civic nation, with the same feelings and aspirations as heterosexuals, must enjoy the same respect and the same options for personal development. Respect for plurality and tolerance must not be mere expressions, but rather statements of actual social content, today, here, in the Basque Country.

Solidarity is another value which makes up our party baggage. The sense of national belonging is a concept of identity with our own, with what we hold most dear, a feeling which is becoming increasingly obvious in our society. Our ties to Euskera, to our culture, our environment, with Euskal Herria as the Nation of the Basques. Moreover, being a member of the national community is the best weapon to create societies of solidarity. Basque nationalism must be a movement of solidarity. Immigrants, the unemployed and the disabled form part of our community. It is no mere chance that a society such as the Basque Country, with such a strong sense of identity, has the most progressive politics of those around it in these matters. When I was accompanying the US Democratic Party campaign in 1996, I was struck by the fact that the president and candidate, Bill Clinton, called for more “sense of community” to carry through policies showing solidarity in education, health care and protection. We are lucky in that we already have a community and a common sense of belonging. Nationalism in Euskadi is our best weapon against insolidarity and as a meeting point for its most committed citizens. Self-government is also our best instrument to improve the general welfare of Basque society, which we have proved over twenty-four years of self-government.

Solidarity is a meeting point for those committed to the construction of a civic Basque nation freely deciding its own future. Those committed to achieve peace and defend human rights. Those involved in a solidarity project within their own society. That is what the Basque Nationalist Party represents in the 21st century.

Lehendakari: These are also the cornerstones of the new Political Statute you have produced, which we must now debate and approve. This will be our Party’s main task in coming years: to be at the forefront of social and political support for the proposal, to work to make free democratic debate a reality, employing the entire Party in the project, a civic and democratic project. Because, what is recognition of the Basque people, of Basque society and their right to freely decide the future if it is not democracy? As in 1949, when the Euzkadi Buru Batzar proclaimed the right of the Basque People to freely express their wishes and called for their decision to be considered as the only legal source of political status, so we today claim an upgrading of this right and of the spirit of pacts with the State.

We will bring this issue to the debating arena. And, as you say, we will do it openly. Willing to talk, willing to listen to others, willing to agree positions. We do not want political representatives who are incapable of dialogue. It is a disgrace that some politicians publicly boast that they do not talk or will not talk to other political formations. We want to talk to everyone. Because this Euskadi has to be built by everyone. Nationalists and non-nationalists, independentists, sovereignists, autonomists and centralists. Nobody is considered excluded. We must all talk to each other. Because we still have words. We still have debate. We still have the agreement. To achieve co-existence in this country, as the Lehendakari has proposed.

Lehendakari: I do not wish to complete this part of my speech without stating publicly that I am proud and honoured I have been judged worthy of your trust, and that I have worked alongside you over the last five years. You are a great political leader. You have shown me that during our most difficult times together. But you are above all a great person. You certainly are a person who looks like a person. I will always be proud of my time in Lehendakari Ibarretxe’s team. I thank you, Lehendakari, most sincerely and from the bottom of my heart.

It is obvious that the three territories of Lapurdi, Baxe Nafarroa and Xuberoa are a constituent part of Euskal Herria. With regard to these three territories in the French State, I have always called, and today I call again, for a special and personal commitment which I hope to manifest over the next four years. The history, social and cultural realities and the political junctures of North and South are quite different. We must accept this, take it on board, and bear it in mind when defining the course of political action to be taken.

The Basque Nationalist Party feels that Iparralde will constitute one of its major priorities, and will follow certain principles when defining its policies:

 First and foremost, autonomy for the Ipar Buru Batzar and the Parti National Basque, since these organisations obviously have better knowledge of the terrain, and thus of the decisions to be taken.
 Secondly, respect for the legal system and the present and future possibilities within the European Union.
 Thirdly, our total loyalty to the authorities and institutions of Iparralde.
 In general, respect for the wishes democratically expressed by the citizens of Iparralde, since we consider that in the 21st century we must all constantly seek understanding and cooperation, and not imposition, from wherever this may come.

We will work with determination and enthusiasm on this basis to promote the following general lines of policy:

 The survival of Euskera as the main priority.
 Secondly, crossborder cooperation, meaning genuine cooperation between Iparralde and Hegoalde. We must meet between our societies and within our own party, because we must meet one another, if we are to build our party together and cover all of Basque territory.
 Finally, implementation of a political institution in the Iparralde territories to provide a better response to citizens’ needs. We are quite sure of this.

With regard to Navarra and in Navarra itself, we will work towards conjunction of formations which respect the wishes of the citizens of Navarra, opposing those entrenched in defending what they call an improvement to ancient fuero law, which has never been endorsed by the population.




A conjunction of political formations with a firm commitment to defending peace and opposing violence. Political formations which accept the plural nature of Navarra’s society, and encourage study of the Basque language and defence of Basque in Navarra as their right. Formations committed to setting up political ties between the Autonomous Basque Community and the Comunidad Foral in Navarra. We will work hard at this as a party. And congratulations are in order here, because in March we will have at least one member in the Parliament ready to defend these principles.

I also undertake to strengthen our relations with nationalist parties in other parts of the State. A common strategy is required to move forward in recognition of the peoples and nations of the Spanish State and respect for the wishes of their citizens.

We certainly have some exciting challenges ahead. Exciting challenges over four years, but we are also under threat. From certain people, and from others. Juan Mari, you have been threatened by both sides. They tried to kill you, and you were threatened for defending the freedom and rights of all Basques as the Head of Interior. Now you are being threatened by partial utilisation of justice for defending the sovereignty of Parliament with the same dignity with which you had previously defended citizens’ security. Seven years ago we were with you and a banner hanging from Lemoa Town Hall balcony: “JUAN MARIgaz” (with Juan Mari). We are still with Juan Mari now. We are with you, Juan Mari. The storm clouds will disappear, as will the threats, and, as Lauaxeta wrote in his poem dedicated to Pedro Basaldua:

Mendi eze, ikurrin eder,
azke nai zaitut axian
Amar gazteren lerdena
makila luzez bidian!
Mendi-bitxidor berdiok,
arin or duaz kantari:
"Dana emon biar yako
maite dan azkatasunari"

Juan Mari, you are defending something which is consubstantial to this party and this country: Basque institutions, democratic institutions which arose from popular sovereignty. None of your detractors comes close, Juan Mari, in defending this, in terms of dignity, of strength, or of your fortitude. Particularly not those who operate by hearsay. The storm clouds and threats will pass, however. An exciting time is opening up before us. With a united, cohesive party, we will solve these difficulties, and take our own decisions as to our own future with a co-existence project for the Basque Country.

We have been through an intense internal electoral process. We have given a good example of democracy as a political party. With a certain amount of logical tension. But here there are no conquerors or conquered. We have all won, because the party has become stronger. Joseba: it has been an honour to take part in a democratic election with a person such as yourself. With a good friend, a great person and a good politician. The Iruñea Assembly in 1977 had a motto coined by Manuel de Irujo: “Batasuna ta Indarra” (Unity and Strength). Unity, dialogue and constructive debate must be our objective today, because unity makes us strong, in the same way as mistrust and disqualification would make us weaker. We must say yes to trust to bring out the best in each one of us. Yes to healthy debate to find solutions. Yes to pedagogy to convince others. In short, “Batasuna ta Indarra” is also a motto for 2004.

We must join forces to lead our society and build a future in freedom. Here, in recognition of Eusko Alkartasuna and with utter respect for its political identity, I wish to stress our firm wish to create a strategic joint axis between the Basque Nationalist Party and EA in coming years. A strategic axis to give our relationship increased stability and encourage our society, which yearns for us to build the future in peace, freedom and mutual cooperation. An axis which is open to other forms of cooperation, and a space built for a project, not against anyone else, with respect for the plural nature of society, and legitimacy of other political forces.

Let us follow the example of Xabier Lete, one of whose song opens our eyes to the need to join forces for our country:

Itsasoan urak haundi dira
murgildu nahi dutenentzat.
Gure herriko lanak haundi dira,
astun dira,
gogor dira,
zatiturik gaudenentzat

I have finished. I promise you loyalty and commitment. Loyalty to you, the members of the Party. Commitment to the Basque nation, freedom and co-existence in this country.

Gora Euskadi Askatuta