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Update 1 (March 2005):

Autonomy or Independence?
Spain's Basque Country

On 1 February 2005 an historic and dramatic debate took place in Spain's Congress of Deputies, the lower house of the country's parliament or Cortes,all eight hours of which was covered live on national television. At issue was a proposal, passed by the autonomous Basque parliament in December 2004, that the region renegotiate the so-called 'Statute of Guernica' to allow it to become a state 'freely associated' with Spain, in much the same way as, say, Puerto Rico in central America is connected to, but not actually part of, the USA.

The case for change was argued by Juan Jose Ibarretxe the leader of the Basque country's government and effective leader of the Basque Nationalist Party PNV. His plan that envisaged the establishment of a judicial system wholly independent of Spain's, the setting up of the Basque country's own representation in the EU, and possibly a distinction made between (and different voting rights for) those living in the region who consider themselves Basque and those who see themselves as Spanish. Such measures, Mr Ibarretxe claimed, were the only lasting solution to the separatist violence of ETA, the Basque terrorist organization.

The plan was predictably rejected by the Partido Popular, the main opposition party that has always been resolute in its defence of Spanish sovereignty and territorial integrity: its deputies noted with outrage that the plan had only been passed by the Basque Parliament with the help of votes from deputies elected as members of Batasuna, the political wing of ETA that was legally banned in August 2002. It was rejected just as firmly by deputies from the governing PSOE. Its leader, the Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, had hinted that he might be more willing to talk about extending autonomy to the region than his predecessor, Jose Maria Aznar - possibly because as the leader of a minority government dependent for its parliamentary support on smaller parties from some of Spain's other Autonomous Communities, he cannot afford to be seen to ride roughshod over regional aspirations. But even for him, the 'Plan Ibarretxe' was out of the question.

The proposal inevitably went down to defeat. But ranged against the 313 votes against (and two abstentions), were 29 votes, the majority of them cast by deputies from those smaller parties that ordinarily support the Zapatero government. 

The parliamentary debate is by no means the end of the matter, though. Regardless of the no vote, Mr Ibarretxe threatened to hold a referendum on his plan within the Basque country. This would be unconstitutional, critics claim, since only the Cortes can call a referendum and it would have to involve citizens throughout Spain, not just in the Basque country. Ultimately, the issue is whether the right to self-determination of the Basques should be allowed to trump the sovereignty of the Spanish people as a whole.

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