Foro Ermua

The Foro Ermua calls on the Government of Rodríguez Zapatero and the Regional Basque Government to fulfil their obligation of preventing the Batasuna Congress in Baracaldo.

Bilbao. Thursday, 12 January 2006. Today the Foro Ermua filed a formal petition before the Office of the Prosecutor General, the State Advocate General (under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice), the Spanish Government Delegate in the Basque Country, the Department of the Interior (of the regional Basque Government), the Basque Government and the Provincial Council of Vizcaya [1] (as the major shareholders of the company which owns the Bilbao Exhibition Centre – BEC), requesting that they prevent the announced National Congress of the illegal Batasuna party [2] scheduled for 21^st January and to be held at the BEC in Baracaldo (Vizcaya).

The President of the Supreme Court has formally stated that in order for this latter Court to prevent the said illegal meeting, a petition must be filed by the State Prosecutor General (who the Minister of Justice can call on to do so) or by the State Advocate General on behalf of the Government of Spain. Both institutions were parties to the 2003 summary procedure which gave rise to the illegalisation of Batasuna. Therefore, the Foro Ermua has called on these two entities to urgently petition the Supreme Court to take action (which for now it has not done of its own accord).

The Foro Ermua has also requested the intervention of Javier Balza, Regional Minister of the Interior of the Basque Government and the party directly responsible for enforcing the Law and judicial decisions in Euskadi, to prevent the Batasuna Congress from taking place. If in the end the Batasuna Congress is held the Foro Ermua, having filed this formal petition, would be in a position to take legal action against Javier Balza for the alleged crimes of breach of public duty, collaboration with a terrorist organisation, cooperation in disobedience and refusal to serve the cause of Justice.

A petition was also filed before José Luis Bilbao Eguren, Chairman of the Provincial Council of Vizcaya (head of Government of this Province), requesting that he not allow the BEC facilities to be used for this illegal purpose. The Provincial Council, chaired by Mr. Bilbao, is the owner of 47.7% of the BEC’s share capital. In the event that the Congress is held in the BEC, Mr. Bilbao could also be considered as an accomplice to a criminal act.

The Basque Government itself, as owner of a further 47.7% of the share capital of the BEC, has also been sent a request to the same effect as the one sent to the Chairman of the Provincial Council of Vizcaya.

And lastly, the Foro Ermua has petitioned Paulino Luesma, Spanish Government Delegate in the Basque Country, requesting that he call on those responsible at the Autonomous Government level to not allow Batasuna to bring to fruition its contempt for the final judgement issued by the Supreme Court on 27 March 2003 declaring that party illegal.

Let it be known that if BATASUNA holds its Assembly, despite the aforementioned judgement expressly prohibiting all of its activity, the FORO ERMUA will take all necessary legal action in defence of the Law, Rule of Law and in short, Democracy, against all responsible parties.

The succession of events around Batasuna’s provocation against Rule of Law bears witness to the true position taken by the institutions and political parties vis-à-vis the political wing of ETA. The arrangements that Batasuna has been making over the last several weeks with the Basque Government are public knowledge but the Prosecutor General, Mr. Conde Pumpido, has yet to make public any initiative on his part to prevent this crime from being committed. The State Advocate General, Joaquín de Fuentes Bardají, has not made public any initiatives in this regard although it is the Minister of Justice, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, who is ultimately responsible for issuing instructions in this connection. Paulino Luesma, Government Delegate in the Basque Country, has not reported any steps taken nor has he taken a clear stance against the illegal Congress being prepared.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (President of the Government of Spain and Secretary General of the Socialist Party – PSOE) has consistently avoided taking a clear stance in favour of aborting this provocation on the part of Batasuna’s leaders. “We will act in compliance with the Law” has been the extent of his comments while his subordinates remain impassive [3] , allowing Batasuna to forge ahead with its plan.

Leaders of the Socialist Party of Euskadi (PSE) such as José Antonio Pastor (PSE spokesman at the regional Basque Parliament) have come out in defence of the Regional Minister of the Interior of the Basque Government (who is a leader of the Basque Nationalist Party – PNV). In the words of José Antonio Pastor, the Regional Ministry led by Javier Balza should limit its action to an “examination of the information dossier” of the act in the event of an ex post court requisition (instead of using the regional Basque police force to prevent the illegal Congress). He also stressed that the Congress in question “has been organised by legal persons who have full use of their civil rights” – in allusion to figureheads (both persons and entities) in the surroundings of Batasuna – tacitly accepting the justifications [4] of Arnaldo Otegi (maximum leader of Batasuna) to disobey the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court.

At the same time PNV’s spokesperson, Iñigo Urkullu, has publicly stated his support for the Batasuna assembly while the spokesperson of the regional Basque Government, Miren Azkarate, declared that the Government “considers this public act as a normal event”. There is nothing new in PNV’s support of the ETA network. However, not only are PSE leaders (Socialist Party of Euskadi) aligning themselves more and more with PNV’s nationalist stance but are also virtually taking them on as their own as part of a strategy of doing whatever it takes to gain power while leaving principles by the wayside. Unless the Basque socialists abandon this radically mistaken policy, the Basque situation will continue to deteriorate and Batasuna will continue to get stronger and gain legitimacy and importance.

[1] [Translator’s Note] The Regional Basque Government as well as the Diputación Foral (Provincial Government) of Vizcaya are under the control of the PNV and EA nationalist parties.

[2] [Translator's note] On 27 March 2003 the Special Division of the Spanish Supreme Court composed of 16 Judges handed down a unanimous judgement establishing that the Batasuna political party (formerly known as Herri Batasuna) formed part of the ETA terrorist organisation and was thus declared illegal. A short time later Batasuna was included on the lists of terrorist organisations by the European Union and the United States.

[3] [Translator's note] As the Foro Ermua and other citizens’ organisation have been denouncing for some months now, the Spanish Government – under the leadership of the Socialist Party – is implementing a strategy which consists of making constant political concessions to the organisations which support and collaborate with ETA with the naïve proposal of “persuading them to abandon violence” (an appeasement policy of sorts) instead of using all legal arms to battle them until their ultimate defeat.

[4] [Translator's note] Over the past weeks a number of leaders of the illegal Batasuna have been offering press conferences (at which the party logo is exhibited) where they speak as party leaders expressing the aims Batasuna plans to pursue at this National Congress. The entire Spanish press comments daily on Batasuna’s intention to openly hold this illegal multitudinous meeting. Furthermore, over the last several days, thousands of posters have been put up in many Basque cities announcing that Batasuna is going to hold its Congress on the 21^st of January at the BEC facilities. So far, no Spanish or regional authority has taken any action against these leaders.