Although
the Basque Country formally is in both Spain and France, for the sake of
simplicity, we here will only be focusing on the laws that the Spanish have
regarding the Basque people. The Basque
Country has existed in Spain even before Spain itself was an official
country. One of the most detrimental
laws to the Basque people as a whole was the Spanish Supreme Court decision to
ban the creation of a Basque political party.
This was done due to fear of the extremist ETA group taking power in the
government.[1]
One of the
peaceful attempts that the Basque people made to develop their own laws was the
“Plan Ibarretxe,” which would allow the Basque people to govern
themselves. They would gain control of
their judicial, economic, labor and social systems. The Spanish government would be left to
control defense and national security.
Obviously, the Basque Parliament passed the plan, but the Spanish
Parliament did not. There is currently work
being done to have the Plan Ibarretxe passed through the Spanish Parliament at
a later time.[2]
There have
been many attempts made to create peace between the Basque and the
Spanish. These attempts include the
Madrid Pact, the Lizarra Agreement, and the Antiterrorist Pact. These agreements were created with the goal
of fighting terrorism, especially that of the ETA. Although each individual pact may not have
been effective, they have become more effective together, as time has passed.[3]
It seems as
though the Spanish government has no plans in the future to free the Basque
people and to make them independent.
Regardless, the people of the Basque Country will continue to fight for
their freedom, probably employing both peace and violence tactics.
[1] Hedgecoe, Guy. "Sortu and ETA: Basque
Politics, Spanish Law | OpenDemocracy."Sortu and ETA: Basque Politics,
Spanish Law | OpenDemocracy. OpenDemocracy, 8 Apr. 2011. Web. 27 Feb. 2013.
[2] "Http://www.globalmajority.org." Http://www.globalmajority.org.
Global Majority, n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2013.
[3]Global
Majority
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