Basque minister explains Ibarretxe plan to Bretons

Brignogan, Monday, 05 September 2005 by Edu Lartzanguren
Esther Larrañaga, the Environment Secretary of the Basque Government, spoke of a “Basque republic in the European Union” in front of 200-300 people representing stateless nations in Europe.

The speech was part of an event held August 23 in the town of Brignogan in France’s Finistère region (Pen ar-Bed or “the world’s end” to the Bretons). The event was organised by the Toulouse-based Régions et Peuples Solidaires and financed by the European Parliament through the European Free Alliance group.

Larrañaga, a member of the social democratic party Eusko Alkartasuna (EA), defined her party as “pro-independence” and declared its main objective to be “a Basque republic in the European Union.”

It is not clear if Larrañaga’s pro-independence views are shared by her party’s coalition partner, the Christian democrat PNV (Basque Nationalist Party). PNV’s president, Josu Jon Imaz, declared earlier in August that the idea of Basque independence should be substituted by the concept of “co-sovereignty with Spain”. Imaz’s statement aroused dissent in his own party.

[Stateless] nations must take part in the building of Europe, said Larrañaga, “but for that, their own political awareness must be recognised though the right to self-determination”. Besides the Breton, the audience included representatives of almost every stateless nation in Europe. Larrañaga elaborated on the current political status of the Basque Autonomous Community, which only includes three of the seven Basque Provinces, and declared it “worn out” after 30 years. She explained that the successive governments in Madrid have failed to fulfil the so-called Gernika Statute. “The time is ripe to renew it,” she said.

After the speech, Bretons in the audience asked Larrañaga how the Basques had managed to safeguard their language since the end of the Franco dictatorship. Larrañaga answered that there is still a lot to be done to strengthen the Basque language, Euskara. However, she explained how political autonomy directly impacts the amount of money available for implementing language policy, since the Basque government collects tax directly from the population and negotiates the amount to be transferred each year to Madrid. Members of the audience from other stateless nations expressed frustration that in their countries many projects to promote their languages come to a halt due to lack of funds.

But the main theme was the Statute of Free Association, the so-called “Ibarretxe plan” — the proposal of Basque Prime Minister Juan Jose Ibarretxe to grant the Basque region free association status with Spain. The audience was excited by the idea that it might mean de facto independence, as suggested by international media. Ibarretxe’s plan, explained Larrañaga, has two main points: “territoriality”, refering to the seven Basque provinces, with Navarre and the provinces in Iparralde deciding their degree of collaboration, and the right of the Basques to self-determination.

Larrañaga´s representatives told Eurolang that they pleased with the Breton's response to the speech. They felt that there was an urge in the international audience to get first hand information about Euskal Herria (Basque country). And the information came, ironically, from the Breton Pen ar-Bed — the world’s end.(Eurolang © 2005