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Declaration in favour of Consulting the Basque citizens

Politika / Diaspora - 2008/10/24

Faced with the suspension by the Spanish government of the Law on Citizenship Consultation approved by the Basque Parliament on June 27, 2008, the institutions that represent the Basque diaspora in the Americas organized wish to publish the following considerations:

1. Civil society has played in recent decades a leading role in the fight against violence and in defense of dialogue without exclusions as a way to open a peace process and political normalization in the Basque Country. It is an indispensable asset available to the Basque People to build a better future.


2. Citizen participation in political life is a global phenomenon that has also been incorporated into the construction of peace, so nobody should oppose the pursuit of a principle so basic in the Basque Country. In this connection, let it be recalled that the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has identified the need to enhance political dialogue with the view of the public on those issues that most affect them.


3. The allegation of supposedly existing limits of Spanish legality that does not allow for consulting the will of the Basques is problematical in a democracy in comparison to an international democratic trend which, as previously exposed, no one questioned, especially when the Government speaks Spanish with ETA while simultaneously and systematically refusing to do the same with democratic elected Basque institutions.


4. In a historic moment in which modern societies seek to deepen democracy, it is very difficult to oppose placing people at the center of political activity. There is no greater contribution to a new democratic political culture more fully aware than direct and consist access to the view of its citizens.


5. The Basque Country is one of the oldest in Europe with a longstanding identity and as such has the right to be consulted to determine their own future. In the twenty-first century, projects or efforts of coexistence among peoples should not be the products of imposition but of choice and free consent embodied in pacts to take into consideration the views of the public, freely and democratically expressed.


6. The Basque diaspora wants a new agreement among all the political sensitivities of the country without anyone having the right to veto. If certain political groups systematically refuse to talk, it is necessary to call on the people and implement the basic principles of democracy.





Accordingly, the signatories do our public support for more enthusiastic and determined that, pursuant to the Act enacted by the Basque Parliament and in accordance with the terms of the same.
• Argentina: Federación de Entidades Vasco Argentinas
• Brasil: Eusko Alkartasuna de São Paulo
• Canadá: North American Basque Organizations, inc.
• Colombia: Fundación Centro Vasco Euskal Etxea
• Chile: Eusko Etxea de Santiago y Eusko Etxea de Valparaíso.
• Estados Unidos: North American Basque Organizations, inc.
• México: Centro Vasco Euskal Etxea ,A,C
• Paraguay: Euskal Etxea Jasone de Asunción
• Perú: Euskal Etxea de Lima
• Uruguay: Federación de Instituciones Vascas de Uruguay e Institución de Confraternidad Vasca Euskal Erria
• Venezuela: Federación de Centros Vascos de Venezuela






On October 22, 2008