Spain and the Basque Country - A Case Study

Spain and the Basque Country: A Case Study

By Stefan Vedder

Basques are living in seven provinces at the Bay of Biscay on the territories of France (three rather small provinces) and Spain, which constitute the ‘greater Basque Country’ or ‘Euskal Herria’. In Spain the southern - and by far bigger - part of Euskal Herria consists of the autonomous community Navarra and the autonomous community Basque Country (‘Euskadi’) with its three provinces Alava, Guipuzcoa and Vizcaya. Basque nationalists in Euskadi claim especially Navarra as part of their territory.^[1] The Basque conflict can be de­scribed as a nationalist struggle based on ethnicity which is particularly vital - and violent - in Euskadi. Nationalists in the Basque Country^[2] are claiming the right for self-determination and sovereignty in contrast to the Spanish government, which is reluctant to grant the Basques sovereignty. Attacks executed by the separatist terrorist group ETA, which have yet left more than 800 dead, are the violent excesses of the conflict. The case study pays special attention to the distinct features of the conflict by analysing the Basque society. As there has not yet been any progressed peace process, the hitherto existing efforts towards peace are being traced and those problems revealed (especially the issue of ‘spoiling’) that prevented a sustainable peace process from getting kicked off. A glance into the future is then dared that takes into consid­eration recent political changes.

Origins and causes of the conflict

When the Basque provinces, Alava, Guipuzcoa and Vizcaya were incorporated in the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Spain, respectively, they enjoyed distinct legal codes (the so called ‘fueros’) and autonomous political institutions. In the 19th century however, the Basque provinces felt more and more constrained by increased liberal centralism in Spain and supported the Carlists in the Spanish Civil Wars. The Carlists were defeated and the onset of the industrial revolution made for mass migrations of Spaniards to the Bazque Country. This led to the founding of the Basque Nationalist Party (Partido Nacionalista Vasco-Euzko Al- derdi Jetzalea , PNV-EAJ) in 1895, which was claiming independence for the Basque Coun­try.^[3] During the Franco dictatorship in Spain (1939-1975) the Basque country suffered fero­cious oppression, e.g. the prohibition of the Basque language in all public areas, causing an even greater awareness of their ethnic heritage.^[4] The ‘Franquismo’ bound the Basque people together more tightly as a political force and paved the way for autonomist and nationalist movements.^[5] The idea of armed resistance was born in the 1950s, when the hopes of a prompt demise of the Franco regime were dashed and frustration and despair spread out. In 1959 the ETA (Euskadi Ta Atasuna = Basque Country and Freedom) was founded, originating primar­ily from youth movements that voiced more radical claims towards Basque independence than the NPV, which was at that time conducting an exile government of the Basque Country in France. The ETA saw itself as a revolutionary movement for national liberation.^[6] In 1961 ETA conducted its first act of political violence by attempting to derail several trains carrying Francoist Civil War veterans. In response to the failed assault 110 ETA prisoners were im­prisoned and more than 100 were forced into exile. In the following years, the ETA came un- der the control of young radicals and the organization adopted a paramilitary form with a first political murder occurring in 1968.^[7] During the transition period following Franco’s death in 1975 the Basque Country was described as being like a “pressure cooker” about to explode after all the years the expression of dissent has been suppressed so sharply.^[8] In 1978, ETA killed more people than in all the preceding years combined.

The social and economic situation

The general status of autonomy granted to the Basque Country after the Franco regime is very high. Besides establishing Basque and Spanish as official languages the region was given a high degree of fiscal autonomy. The Basque Country possesses the highest level of self-governance of any sub-national entity in Europe, including an autonomous Basque police force and autonomous education and health systems.^[9] These rights were granted through the Basque statute of autonomy which was approved by almost 95% of the Basques in 1979.^[10] The Spanish constitution - established per referendum one year earlier - was approved by almost three quarter of th]e Basque Country. However, only 44,7% participated in the voting.^[11] This low turnout indicates how little the Basques identified themselves with the Spanish state at the birth of the constitutional democracy and demonstrates a shortage in public legitimacy on the part of the Basques inherent in the Spanish constitution.

According to a socio-linguistic survey conducted by the Basque Government in 2006 just over a third of the Basques speak the Basque language (= Euskara) fluently (with an addi­tional 17% of passive speakers^[12] ) and it is spoken in just about one fifth of the Basque house­holds.^[13] Today 47% of the Basques however, define themselves to be Basques rather than Spaniards whereas only 9% feel to be rather Spanish than Basque. 37% stated that they define themselves as Basques as much as they define themselves as Spaniards.^[14] Although it is ap­parently not the language that unites the Basque people they nevertheless have a strong feel­ing of Basque identity. However, the Basque Country may not be mistaken for a region with a strong majority supporting separatist visions. According to a poll conducted by the Basque government in March 2009, merely 25% of the Basques support the independence of the Basque Country while 30% refuse it.^[15] This popular sentiment is interesting considering the claim of Nationalist parties to have the population decide over the future status of auton­omy/independence for the Basque country.

Economically, the Basque Country is one of the richest regions within Spain and within the European Union. According to numbers for 2007, the GDP^[16] per capita is 40% higher than the average of the European Union.^[17] Apparently, grievances stemming from so­cial deprivation or linguistic discrimination, for instance that are at the very bottom of other conflicts do not exactly apply to the Basque Country. On the contrary, independence aspira­tions are believed to be rather fuelled by the sentiment that the Basques are paying too much to the central government to subsidise the southern Spanish communities.^{[18] [19]}

[...]

^[1] Letamendia, F. and Loughlin, J.: ‘Peace in the Basque Country and Corsica?’ in Farewell to Arms? From ‘Long War’ to Long Peace in Northern Ireland, edited by Cox, M. et al. (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2000), p. 236.

^[2] In the following the term ‘Basque Country’ refers to the respective autonomous community in Spain and not to ‘Euskal Herria’ unless otherwise stated.

^[3] Moreno, L. Divided Societies, Electoral Polarisation and the Basque Country. (Madird, CSIC Working Paper 01-07, 2001), pp. 1-2.

^[4] Clark, R. The Basque Insurgents - ETA, 1952-1980. (Madison, The University of Wisconsin Press, 1984), p.

14.

^[5] Morena, L. Divided societies, p. 3.

^[6] Clark, R. The Basque Insurgents, pp. 20-27.

^[7] Conversi, D: The Basques, the Catalans and Spain: Alternative Routes to Nationalist Mobilisation. (London, C. Hurst & Co, 1997), pp. 91-99.

^[8] Clark, R. The Basque Insurgents, pp. 88-90.

^[9] USIP, The Basque Conflict: New Ideas and Prospects for Peace. (Washington USIP Special Report 161, 2006), pp. 3-4.

^[10] Gobierno Vasco, Archivo de resultados electorales, 2009a.

^[11] Gobierno Vasco, Archivo de resultados electorales, 2009a.

^[12] ‘passive speakers’ are defined in the survey as those who understand Euskara well, but are do not speak the language well.

^[13] Gobierno Vasco, Mapa Sociolingüistico, p. 35

^[14] Gobierno Vasco: Sociometro Vasco 41 - Noviembre 2009, 2009c, pp. 14-15.

^[15] Gobierno Vasco, Sociometro Vasco 40 - Abril 2009, 2009b, p. 38.

^[16] The GDP discribes the overall economic output (= market value of all final goods and services) achieved within a country/region and is considered a reliable indicator for measuring economic wealth.

^[17] Eustat, Producto Interior Brutoper capita 2007, 2008, p. 1.

^[18] Letamendia and Loughlin, Peace in the Basque Country and Corsica?, p. 237.

^[19] That the conflict nevertheless had a significant negative effect on the economy of the Basque country was shown by Abadie, A. and Gardeazabal, J.: ‘The Economic Costs of Conflict: A Case Study of the Basque Coun­try’, The American Economic Review, Vol. 93 No. 1 (2002).