Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country

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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 Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country is the legal document organizing the political system of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country' (Basque: Euskadiko Autonomi Erkidegoa) which includes the "historical territories" of Alava, Biscay and Guipuscoa. It forms the region into one of the autonomous communities envisioned in the Spanish Constitution of 1978. It is also known as the Statute of Gernika (Spanish: Estatuto de Guernica), after the city where its final form was approved on December 29, 1978. It was ratified by referendum on October 25, 1979, despite an abstention of more than 40% of the electorate. The statute was accepted by the lower house of the Spanish Parliament on November 29 and the Spanish Senate on December 12.

It established a system of parliamentary government, in which the president or lehendakari is elected by the Basque Autonomous Parliament. Election is by universal suffrage and parliament consists of 75 deputies, 25 from each of the three Historic Territories of the community. The parliament is vested with powers over a broad variety of areas, including agriculture, industry; from culture, arts and libraries, to tax collection, policing, and transportation. Basque and Castilian Spanish are official languages.

The Ibarretxe Plan is a proposal to revise the statute so as to amplify Basque autonomy put forward by the ruling PNV.

The statute allows for Navarre to join the Community if that is the will of the Navarrese. The equal representation of the provinces regardless of actual population was a wink to Alava and Navarre, the least populated and least prone to Basque nationalism of the provinces. However the Navarrese society seems content with its current Amejoramiento del Fuero.

[edit] Earlier statutes

The Basque provinces maintained a great degree of self-government under their charters. After the Second Carlist War, the Fueros were abolished and substituted by the Ley Paccionada. During the Second Spanish Republic, the Carlists and nationalists agitated for autonomy. The Statute of Estella did not achieve enough support.

Another proposal was approved by the Republic already in the Spanish Civil War. Its effectivity was limited to the Republic-controlled areas of Biscay and Guipuscoa.

After the surrendering of the Basque Army in 1937, the statute was abolished. However, Francisco Franco allowed the continuation of a limited self-government for Alava and Navarre, thanking their support for his uprising.

It is on the republican statute and the Alavese institutions that the current Statute of Gernika takes its legitimacy.