By Tito Drago
MADRID, Feb 12 1999 (IPS)

Pressure is on for Basque independence, and is expected to escalate in the run up to June’s municipal elections, forcing rapprochement between the Spanish government and the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE).

On the one hand, the Basque separatist group ETA has maintained the unilateral and unconditional suspension of violent action declared last September 16. On the other, there are increasingly friendly signs between radical pro-independence groups and the moderate nationalists governing the Basque country.

The moderate Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and Eusko Alkartasuna (EA) – its splinter group – have held an agreement with the ETA associated Eskal Herritarrok (EH) in the Independent Parliament since March 25.

They also acted accordingly to promote a Municipal Assembly for the Basque Country including the provinces of Alava, Vizcaya and Guipuzcoa – as recognised under the Spanish Constitution – plus the Independent Community of Navarre and two French provinces.

Nationalism calls for the unity of all these territories in an independent state.

The general outlook was made clear up with a declaration made Monday to a Catalonia radio station by Xabier Arzallus, PNV president, where for the first time he said directly that his party wants independence for the Basque Country.

“We, as a party, we profess and proclaim, without urgency the independence of Euskadi (the Basque Country) in Europe,” stated Arzallus.

This basically means the unification of territories presently under Spanish and French sovereignty, granting the new state independence and integrating it into the European Union.

The ruling Popular Party (PP), the PSOE, the United Left (IU) coalition and the right-wing Alavesa Union (UA) hold slightly less than 50 percent of the votes in the Basque Country (Alava, Guipuzcoa and Vizcaya).

In Navarre, nearly 75 percent of the vote goes to these three parties, who deny this region belongs to the Basque Country, and in France Basque nationalism is even weaker than in Navarre.

An idea of the strength of nationalism in the six provinces constituting the proposed Basque nation is that of the 2,000 councillors summoned to the municipal meeting, only 600 turned up, and not one mayor of a provincial capital was seen.

But in the three provincs making up the Spanish Basque country, nationalism is in the majority and is felt in the independent government and parliament.

Friday will mark the beginning of the ordinary sessions of the Basque Parliament, with two hot controversies up for discussion, uniting the nationalists, on one side, and the nationwide parties, on the other.

Firstly, the new parliament offered its facilities for meetings of the Kurdish Parliamentary Assembly in exile in July, and secondly Josu Ternera, a man with ETA links on trial for murder, kidnapping and bomb attacks, was elected deputy to the independent parliament in October.

The Kurds are an ethnic group of approximatelly 30 million people distributed in various countries, half of them in Turkey and the others in Iran, Iraq and Syria.

Since 1963, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), has been calling for the unity and independence of Kurdistan and promoting guerrilla warfare, classed as terrorism by the governments of these countries and Spain.

The PNV justifies the loan, because “Turkey does not comply with the minimum requisites to become a democratic country,” whereby it is understood the use of violence by the Kurds is “a last resort to avoid genocide.”

Basque separatist deputy Manuel Huertas reiterated support “for the just aspirations of the Kurd people,” but justified the PSOE rejection of the cession, because it interferes negatively in international relations, “which are the exclusive domain of the central administration.

The government presided over by the centre-right Jose Maria Aznar affirmed he would do everything legally possible to impede this meeting.

But it will be difficult to achieve, as most of the members of the Kurdish Parliamentary Assembly are refugees or residents in European countries and therefore count with documents whic allow them legal entry into Spain.

The Confederation of Basque entrepreneurs criticised the cession as they understook they would suffer reprisals from Turkey, a country which imports Basque products and ranks 21st on its list of markets.

Meanwhile, Josu Ternera is proving a difficult bone of contention, for while the Judge authorised him to attend the ceremony to take his seat, the Supreme Court refused him permission to leave prison to attend parliamentary sessions.

When parliamentary sessions begin again, the first issue up for debate will be Ternera’s situation, with most of the house ready to defend his right to be driven from prison to the chamber every time the parliament meets.

The PP and PSOE, minorities in the Basque Parliament but with a broad majority in the Spanish body, will vote against this.

Everyone, nationalists and non nationalists alike, have one eye on the June municipal elections which will provide a good idea of how the public feel about all this.

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