Ibarretxe Plan

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Basque Country (autonomous community)
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the Basque Country

Autonomous communities of Spain Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country Politics of Spain Ibarretxe Plan President Juan José Ibarretxe Basque Autonomous Parliament Elections Spanish General Elections: 1977 - 1979 - 1982 - 1986 - 1989 1993 - 1996 - 2000 - 2004 Basque Regional Elections: 2001 2005 Referenda: Autonomy Statute (1979) - NATO (1986) European Constitution (2005) Political parties: Aralar Basque Nationalist Party Batasuna Communist Movement of Euskadi Communist Party of the Basque Territories (EHAK) Communist Party of Euskadi Eusko Alkartasuna Ezker Batua - Izquierda Unida Partido Popular Socialist Party of Euskadi Zutik Former political parties: Basque Nationalist Republican Party Democracia Cristiana Vasca Euskadiko Ezkerra Euskal Ezkerra Euskal Iraultzarako Alderdia HASI Herritarren Zerrenda
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The Ibarretxe Plan is a plan to break with the Statute of Autonomy and consequently with the Spanish constitution as a way to gain more independence and become a free state.

The Political statute of the Community of the Basque Country, also called Ibarretxe Plan or Basque Parliament´s Proposal for coexistence in the Basque Country was presented by the Basque Government and approved by the Basque parliament. It was announced by the Lehendakari (President) Juan Jose Ibarretxe in September 2001, in the Basque parliament´s plenary of general politics and was presented in October the 25th 2003. Basque Parliament´s plenary approved it on 2004, December, the 30th and decide to send it to the Spanish Parliament with absolute majority of the votes, 39 favoral votes and 35 opposite votes.

On January 2005 the proposal was sent to the Spanish Parliament´s President by the Basque Parliament´s President to debate and vote, been refused February the first by 313 negative votes (PSOE, PP, United Left (Spain), Canary Coalition and CHA), 29 favoral votes (PNV, ERC, CiU, EA, Na-Bai and BNG) and 2 abstentions (IC-V).

1 Basque Parliment
2 Economy
3 Possible Scenarios
4 Future of the Ibarretxe Plan
5 References

[edit] Basque Parliment

September 2002, Lehendakari (President) Ibarretxe announced the preparation of his plan to the Basque parliament; however the actual contents of this plan had not been made public until July 2003, after being leaked to the press. At the moment of the announcement the Complutense team began its investigation and the results were presented in October 2003, before the Ibarretxe Plan was to be delivered to the Basque parliament.

[edit] Economy

There are strong ties between the Basque economy and Spain’s national market, as well as the European market. According to the Complutense study, the main markets for Basque companies are the nationwide (Spanish) market as well as foreign markets; together, they represent a combined 80.3% [of sales]. Meanwhile, sales within the Basque region represent only 19.7% of the total. As a result, the independence of the Basque Country could mean significant losses for Basque companies.

[edit] Possible Scenarios

In the event that the plan leads to a rupture between the Basque Country and the rest of Spain, not only would the region dissociate itself from Spain, it would also dissociate itself from the European Union (EU). It would happen in such a way that the Basque Country would only be able to re-enter the EU after a negotiation process, which is not simple and would take into account the fact that any member state of the Union, including Spain, has the veto right. This situation would have the following consequences:

Commercial operations between the Basque Country and Spain, as well as with the European Union, would be subject to customs and border procedures involving significant additional fiscal and transaction charges.
The Basque Country would be excluded from the euro area and the region would have to adopt a new currency as well as take on additional costs for foreign-exchange operations, with the consequent risk inherent in fluctuations in the rate of exchange of its currency relative to the euro.
There would be a serious possibility of adverse reactions on the part of consumers, above all Spanish consumers, with respect to products of Basque origin.
The deterioration in the climate of business confidence would result in a reduction in expectations and in a downward revision in investment plans.

[edit] Future of the Ibarretxe Plan

Business leaders are sensitive to opinion currents, and the presentation of the plan in the Basque parliament has unleashed a very negative current of opinion among people who are very qualified, such as representatives of the government, of the CEOE, and of the autonomous governments of Cantabria and Navarre.” The government of Spain has already started preparing a legal battle against the Ibarretxe Plan.