In light of the Supreme Court judgement, the FORO ERMUA denounces the political collaboration of the Basque and Catalonian nationalists and Izquierda Unida (United Left Party) with ETA

Bilbao. 30 March 2005. On 26 March, the Special Section of Spain´s Supreme Court rejected the candidate list of the citizens´ group Aukera Guztiak (AG) by unanimous decision of the 16 judges because in the High Court's view “a connection can be found between the Batasuna network and AG", independent candidates "manipulated to serve the interests of the political parties" outlawed in 2003 (Batasuna, HB and EH [1] ) due to the control exercised over them by ETA.

In its judgement the Supreme Court expressed the opinion that after the outlawing of Batasuna, “the ETA terrorist group’s interest in taking part in political and parliamentary activities did not diminish … and it has used instrumental organisations … in the different electoral processes that have taken place in the Autonomous Communities of the Basque Country and Navarre” (in 2003 and 2004 municipal, provincial and European elections were held).

“Faced with a new electoral process (in Euskadi on 17 April) ... the ETA terrorist group as well as those who were important members of (Batasuna), mapped out a new strategy the purpose of which was to sidestep the outlawing resolutions delivered by the Supreme Court”. In so doing their plan was to present an open list of candidates under Batasuna “destined for rejection, … together with another one that, to the degree possible, should not bear any traces of that same subordinate relationship (with respect to ETA)”, and that could be considered a clean list.  The Supreme Court concluded in saying that “This latter list of candidates is the one that finally took the form of Aukera Guztiak”.

The legal grounds of this judgement is based on, inter alia, a number of different judgements delivered by the European Court of Human Rights (7 December 1976 and 13 February 2003).

As a result of the adoption of this Supreme Court final judgement, which almost certainly will be upheld by the Constitutional Court today or tomorrow dismissing the appeal filed by AG, the paternity of ETA with respect to the candidate lists of Aukera Guztiak (AG) is an established fact by virtue of a unanimous judicial judgement that no democratically-minded person can call into question, unless through a judicial appeal process.

  Nevertheless the Basque nationalist parties, PNV (Basque Nationalist Party) and EA (Eusko Alkartasuna), as well as the lehendakari (President of the regional government) himself, Mr. Ibarretxe, have openly stated that they do not consider this judgement valid because in their view it is actually a "political decision taken by PP (People's Party) and PSOE (Socialist Party)”. Distortion and foolhardiness go hand in hand in the obstinate insistence of the nationalists on the delegitimization of the judicial system which they in fact seek to control in their region. And, as if a Supreme Court judgement carried no more weight than his own conjectures, the day before yesterday Ibarretxe yet again posed the question, after meeting in Ajuria Enea for two hours with the leading candidates of AG: “Why are (these candidates) being kept from participating in the upcoming elections if they have nothing to do with ETA or with Batasuna?"

The deficient democratic spirit of the Basque nationalists, their determination in making sure that ETA does not disappear and their systematic failure to comply with judicial decisions or any others that do not conform to their political projects are common knowledge. Also very well known is the antidemocratic behaviour of and political support lent to ETA by the (secessionist party) Esquerra Republicana of Catalonia (ERC) and Izquierda Unida (federation of communists, radical socialists and greens), the two partners that support the government of Rodríguez Zapatero in the Spanish Parliament.

The same day that the judgement was made public, the Secretary-General of the ERC, Joan Puigcercós, declared "we regret the Supreme Court's decision which is more political than judicial as was the Political Party Act (2003) which outlawed Batasuna", adding that it was "an unfortunate decision” because the Basque elections “would suffer as a result”.  In the words of ERC’s second in command “the most logical thing would have been to change the Political Party Act so that Batasuna could have taken part” (in these elections).

For his part, the leader of Izquierda Unida, Gaspar Llamazares, affirmed that the evidence used to challenge the lists “was plagued with serious defects and was only an indication tainted with prejudice”. And, although he insisted that he “respected but did not agree” with the decision, he added that “the will of the State has prevailed over reason and democratic guarantees".  He concluded by expressing his desire “that the Constitutional Court re-establish (now) the fullness of the right to participation” (of those promoting the candidacy of AG).

It is also very surprising that for the second time in the span of only a few days, and in light of such an important issue the purpose of which is to restrict the manoeuvrability of terrorists in the Basque Country, the progressive association Jueces para la Democracia  (Judges for Democracy), has expressed a certain degree of scepticism with regard to the judgement. The Association’s national spokesperson, the Judge Edmundo Rodríguez Achútegui, called the decision handed down by the Supreme Court “extremely delicate” because, in his view, “it had to be based on evidence in order to exclude a list of candidates" and according to this judge "this is an exceptional circumstance in a democratic State”.

The FORO ERMUA is pleased with the decision adopted by the Supreme Court which is one more example of a firm attitude and Rule of Law’s zero tolerance of the ETA terrorist organisation and of the wide-ranging network of organisations that it has created to evade the action of the Justice system and spread its intimidatory tactics throughout the society. The Foro Ermua also offers its sincere congratulations to the Ministers of Justice and Interior for their effective and timely collaboration in uncovering the legal fraud about to be committed by the terrorists, through AG candidates.

Our acknowledgement also goes out to the decision and forcefulness of the Minister of the Interior and the State Security Forces during these last several months for tirelessly working on the persecution and dismantling of the commandos and collaboration networks of the assassins.  This is the only option if ETA and Batasuna are to be definitively defeated; no olive branches or any sort of generosity until they have been disbanded. Neither must we succumb to the temptation of shortcuts in the form of dialogue which, as recent Spanish history has taught us, only allows the terrorist organisation time to get back on its feet after suffering a blow. Since its formation in 1998, the Foro Ermua has strongly opposed any sort of negotiation with ETA and under the so-called “new conditions” we continue to reject negotiation, despite the fact that some have mistaken our perseverance for “obstinance”.

Note:  The verbatim texts in Spanish of the Supreme Court judgement and the appeals of the Prosecutor General and the Advocate General can be found on the Foro Ermua's web page under  “Documentos” ”  (“Otros documentos españoles”).  www.foroermua.com

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