The Basque Government has voted in favour of a referendum bill introduced by Basque President Juan José Ibarretxe last month.

A majority of just one was enough to give the President the power to hold the first part of a referendum on 25th October 2008. The referendum will ask two questions, the first of which will ask if people are in favour of a "negotiated solution' to the ETA 'conflict' if the armed group end its violence. The second question, which will be put to a second referendum asks if all Basque political parties should work toward an agreement on what it calls the Basques 'right to decide their future'.

The Bill was passed by 34 votes to 33, with 7 abstentions and one non attendance. The one vote deciding vote came from the Basque Communist Party (Euskal Herrialdeetako Alderdi Komunista - EHAK). The EHAK decided last week to give their limited support to the bill, despite having been given the cold shoulder by Ibarretxe earlier on in the year when their party was looking at a possible ban by the Spanish state.

However, the referendum bill has not been without its critics. Inside the Basque socialist/nationalist movement the bill has been criticized, among other things, for not going far enough, being too complicated and only applying to the three out of the historical seven provinces the Basque Country - Biscay, Alava, and Gipuzkoa. Labourd, Lower Navarre, Soule (in the state of France) and Navarre (now an autonomous region in the state of Spain), will not be included in the referendum vote.

The bill has also been heavily criticised by Basque socialist party (PSE-EE) and the Popular Party (PP). The PSE-EE has said repeatedly that if the bill was passed by the Basque Government, they would seek a court order to prevent the referendum going ahead on the argument that the bill is unconstitutional. Ibarretxe has said in the past that he wants a future Basque country 'freely associated' with Spain, with its own separate legal system and European Union representation.

In 2005 the Spanish Foreign Policy Minister said that this could not happen under an EU Constitution – perhaps one of the reasons why the Spanish Government are still so eager to push forward the Lisbon Treaty today, despite the Irish NO vote.

President Juan José Ibarretxe's blog:

(voir le site)

J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

26/06/08

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