The Basque
Country (/ˈbæsk/, /ˈbɑːsk/; Basque: Euskadi [eus̺kadi]; Spanish: País Vasco [paˈis ˈβasko]; French: Pays basque) is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It
includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa.
The Basque Country or Basque Autonomous Community was granted
the status of nationality within Spain, attributed by the Spanish Constitution of 1978. The
autonomous community is based on the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque
Country, a foundational legal document providing the framework for the
development of the Basque
people on Spanish soil, although the territory of Navarre was left out and made into a separate
autonomous community.
Currently there is no official capital in the autonomous
community, but the city that holds the Basque Parliament, the headquarters of
the Basque Government and the Basque Autonomous Community's President's
residency (Ajuria Enea Palace) is Vitoria-Gasteiz, located
in the province of Álava. Whilst Vitoria-Gasteiz is the largest municipality in
area, with 277 km2 (107 sq mi), Bilbao (or Bilbo in Basque) is the largest in population,
with 353,187 people, located in the province of Biscay within a conurbation of
875,552 people.
The term Basque
Country may also refer to the larger cultural region (Basque: Euskal
Herria), the home of the Basque people, which includes the autonomous
community.
Politics
Politics
Government
The current laws configure the autonomous community as a
federation of its present-day three constituent provinces. These western Basque
districts kept governing themselves by their own laws and institutions even
after the Castilian conquest in 1200. The new king upheld their institutional
system issued from the consuetudinary
law prevalent
in Basque and Pyrenean territories. This limited self-government, similar to
the one for Navarre, was
partially suppressed in 1839 and totally in 1876 in exchange for an agreement
on tax-collection and a number of administrative prerogatives. These in turn
were suspended under Franco for
Gipuzkoa and Biscay, but restored by the Spanish Constitution of 1978. The political structure of the new autonomous community is defined in the Gernika Statute, which was approved by a majority in a referendum held on 25 October 1979. Nowadays it is one of the most decentralized regions in the world; in this regard it has been described as having "more autonomy than just about any other in Europe" by The Economist.
The post-Franco Spanish Constitution of 1978 acknowledges
"historical rights" and attempts compromise in the old conflict
between centralism and the different national identities
(Basque, Catalan, and Galician). A specific approach to the national realities
in Spain was eventually diffused by granting autonomous administrations and
parliaments to all
regions of Spain (e.g. Castile and León, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, etc.), while the Basques,
Catalans, and Galicians were acknowledged with historic specificity. Provincial
governments (diputación foral) with actual relevant attributes
(taxation, etc.) were restored only in the autonomous communities of the Basque
Country and Navarre, after
the latter detached from the Basque political process. The
provinces in the Basque Country still perform tax collection in their
respective territories, but with limited margin in decision making under the
Spanish and European governments. Under this intricate system, the Diputaciones Forales (Basque: Foru Aldundiak) administer most
of each of the provinces but are coordinated by the autonomous Basque
Government (Spanish Gobierno Vasco, Basque: Eusko Jaurlaritza).
The autonomous community has its own police force (the Ertzaintza),
controls Education and
Health Systems, and has a Basque radio/TV station. These and only some of the
powers acknowledge in the Gernika Statute have since 1980 been transferred to
the Autonomous Community by the Cortes
Generales under the Gernika Statute.
The seats of the Basque
Parliament and
Government are in Vitoria-Gasteiz, so this
is the capital city de facto, but the
Basque Autonomous Community has no capital de iure. The Parliament is composed of 25
representatives from each of the three provinces. The Basque Parliament elects
the Lehendakari (President of the Autonomous Community of the
Basque Country) who forms a government following regular parliamentary
procedures. Until 2009 all Lehendakaris (even those in 1937 and during the
exile) have been members of the Basque Nationalist Party (Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea) (moderate and Christian-Democrat) since 1978. Despite their
continued leadership role, they have not always enjoyed majorities for their
party and have needed to form coalitions with either Spain wide parties or
left-leaning Basque nationalist parties, often governing in a difficult
minority position. Since 1982 until the
late 1990s, Basque
nationalists ideologically
closer to ETA refused
to turn out in the Basque parliament, a significant wedge of the parliament.
Currently, the Basque Government is headed by Iñigo
Urkullu (PNV). In the 2012 Basque parliamentary
election, the PNV obtained a plurality of the votes, followed by the
left-wing nationalist coalition EH Bildu (Eusko
Alkartasuna, Sortu, Alternatiba).
Present-day
political dynamics
ETA's permanent ceasefire (2010-2011) opened the possibility of
new governmental alliances and has enabled EH Bildu's electoral success and
rise to governmental institutions (Gipuzkoa, capital
city Donostia).
Territorial
issues
The statute, insofar as it is addressed and provides an
administrative framework for the Basque people, provides the mechanisms for
neighbouring Navarre to join the three western provinces if it wishes to do so,
since at least part of it is ethnically Basque. The Basque Government used the
"Laurak Bat", which included the arms of Navarre,
as its symbol for many years. The Navarrese Government protested, and tribunals
ruled in their favour. The Basque Government replaced it with an empty red
field.
Navarre is one of the historical Basque territories and even
claimed by the Basque nationalists as the
core of the Basque nation. There are also two enclaves surrounded by Basque territory—Treviño (Basque: Trebiñu) and Valle de Villaverde (Basque: Villaverde-Turtzioz)—which
belong to the fellow neighbouring communities of Castile and León and Cantabria respectively, for which a legal connection to
the Basque Country has become an on-off matter of political discussion.
Economy
The Basque Autonomous Community ranks first in Spain in
terms of per capita income, with gross domestic product (GDP) per capita being 40% higher than that
of the European
Union and 33.8%
higher than Spain's average in 2010, at €31,314. Industrial activities were
traditionally centered on steel and shipbuilding, mainly due to the rich iron ore resources found during the 19th century
around Bilbao. The Estuary of Bilbao was the center of the Basque Country's industrial revolution during the 19th and the first half of the
20th century. These activities decayed during the economic
crisis of the
1970s and 1980s, giving ground for the development of the services
sector and new technologies.
Today, the strongest industrial sectors of the Basque Country's
economy are machine
tool, present in the valleys of Biscay and Gipuzkoa; aeronautics in Vitoria-Gasteiz; and energy, in
Bilbao.
The main companies in the Basque Country are: BBVA bank, Iberdrola energy company (both of them have their
headquarters in Bilbao), Mondragón Cooperative Corporation—MCC, the
largest cooperative in the world—Gamesa wind
turbine producer
and CAF rolling
stockproducer. MCC's business leadership in the Basque Country hangs
in the balance after Fagor, its
flagship cooperative of household appliances and goods manufacturing, declared
bankruptcy in 2014.
8 in 10 Spanish municipalities with the lowest unemployment
rates lay across this autonomous community in 2015, standing out such towns as Arrasate, Portugalete and Barakaldo with a strong manufacturing industrial
make-up. The Basque Autonomous
Community ranked above other communities in Spain in terms of resilience in the
face of the economic crisis, going on to become a beacon and matter of study in
Europe.
In 2013 the Basque Country outperformed Spain in several
parameters, but economic overall figures were highly variable. Spanish figures are subject to conspicuous
seasonal fluctuation, relying on its tourist and services sectors, while Basque
performance is rather based on mid- and long-term results according to its more
industrial approach. Unemployment in
this autonomous community rises to 15.76% (12.75% in Gipuzkoa), the
lowest in Spain at a percentage
higher than the EU average (10.8%), but still way ahead of the Spanish overall
of around 26%, the second highest rate in the EU.
In regards to GDP performance, 2013 was a negative year for the
Basque Autonomous Community. It underwent a decline rate in GDP of -1.9%,
somewhat higher than the Spanish percentage, -1.2%. In the last term of 2013,
the public debt of the Basque Autonomous Community stood at 13.00% of its GDP,
totalling 3,753 € per capita as
compared to Spain's overall 93.90%, totalling 20,383 € per capita.
Basque Government's high-ranking officials, as well as
Basque-based party leaders and personalities, have protested and voiced their
concern for the detrimental effects austerity measures passed by the Spanish
Government as of 2011, overruling Basque taxation powers, may be having on
industry and trade, especially export. The former have strongly advocated for a
participation along with Navarre in the Ecofin with a full membership, in order to defend
Basque interests in line with its own reality and fiscal status, and not as a
Spanish subsidiary.****Copied from Wikipedia - País Vasco (Autonomous Community), and
Basque Country (Autonomous Community).
 |
| País Vasco |
 |
| Basque Parliament Building, Vitoria-Gasteiz |
 |
| Ajuria Enea Palace, official residence of the Lehendakari, Vitoria-Gasteiz |
 |
| Plaza Virgen Blanca, Vitoria-Gasteiz |
 |
| Monument to Spanish Independence, (Wellington's victory at the Battle of Victoria), Plaza Virgen Blanca Vitoria-Gasteiz |
 |
| Panorama of Bilbao |
 |
| Museo Guggenheim, Bilbao |
 |
| Plaza Nueva, Bilbao |
 |
| Iberdrola Tower, Bilbao |
 |
| Txindoki Mountain, from Lazkaomendi |
 |
| Basque Coast, Mundaka |
 |
| View of Donastia (San Sebastián) |
 |
| Lastur Valley, Gipuzkoa |
