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 Parliament Elections Basque Regional Elections: 2001, 2005 Referendums: 1979, 2008 Political parties: Aralar Basque Nationalist Party Communist Movement of Euskadi Communist Party of the Basque Homelands Communist Party of Euskadi Eusko Alkartasuna Ezker Batua - Izquierda Unida Partido Popular Socialist Party of Euskadi Former political parties: Basque Nationalist Republican Party Batasuna Democracia Cristiana Vasca Euskadiko Ezkerra Euskal Ezkerra Euskal Iraultzarako Alderdia Herri Alderdi Sozialista Iraultzailea Herritarren Zerrenda
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The Ibarretxe Plan is a proposal to alter the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country giving the Basque Country greater autonomy. It is directly inspired by the sovereignty-association approach of the Parti Québécois, the main party of the Quebec independence movement. [1]

Basque President, Juan José Ibarretxe proposed a radical change in the relationship between Spain and the Basque region under a new formula of creating a "Basque community" that would be "freely associated" to Spain and would enjoy a right to self-determination.

Under the plan, the two million people in this northern region would remain Spanish citizens but would be divided into two overlapping categories of Basques, defined as "citizens" and "nationals".

The plan did not spell out the different rights of the two categories but it seemed possible that, for example, it might lead to Spaniards who move to the Basque country being barred from voting in some elections.

The already powerful Basque regional government would gain further powers, and the Basque court system would be largely separated from the Spanish one.

The plan would give the Basque regional government the right to call referendums, opening the door to a possible future vote on independence, while removing a Spanish government right to suspend the regional government's powers. [2]

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 on October the 25th 2003. The Basque Parliament's plenary approved it on 2004, December, the 30th and sent it to the Spanish Parliament with an absolute majority of votes, 39 votes in favour, to 35 opposed.

On January 2005 the proposal was sent to the Spanish Parliament's President by the Basque Parliament's President to debate and vote, being refused on February 1st by 313 votes against (PSOE, PP, United Left (Spain), Canary Coalition and CHA), 29 votes in favour (PNV, ERC, CiU, EA, Na-Bai and BNG) and 2 abstentions (IC-V).

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

[edit] Basque Parliament

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 on 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 Spanish market as well as foreign markets; together, they represent a combined 80.3% [of sales]. Meanwhile, sales within the Basque Country represent only 19.7% of the total. As a result, an independent Basque Country would rely on European Union membership to preserve its economic status.

[edit] Possible Scenarios

The Spanish Government, led by the Socialist Party, and leading academics view the Ibarretxe Plan as being contrary to the Constitution of Spain written in 1975, and this view is shared by the Partido Popular, the main opposition party. Thus there is great opposition to the plan in the Cortes Generales in Madrid and if it were to pass, it could well be acrimonious. The other states of the EU would disagree with such a move, as many have separatist parties (Corsica in France, Scotland and Northern Ireland in the UK, etc) that would gain renewed strength in the light of a successful secession. But this is the point of view of Spanish nationalism, and it is not clear at all if such an independent country would remain inside or outside the EU. In fact, the possibility of an independent Scotland in the near future, inside the EU, is a clear statement against such arguments.

Spanish reasoning is that, in the event that the plan leads to a rupture between the Basque Country and the rest of Spain, not only would the region disassociate itself from Spain, it would also disassociate 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 could 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 might 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 possibility of adverse reactions on the part of consumers, above all Spanish consumers, with respect to products of Basque origin.
There might be a deterioration in the climate of business confidence, which would result 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 various political leaders, 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.