Methods in Neuroendocrinology by Louis D. van de Kar

Author:Louis D. van de Kar [Kar, Louis D. van de]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science, Life Sciences, Neuroscience, Medical, Endocrinology & Metabolism
ISBN: 9780849333637
Google: DQw2hVGe0aMC
Goodreads: 18976863
Publisher: CRC Press
Published: 1998-06-04T07:43:40+00:00

Conclusion: the future of Euskadi

Elections for the renewal of the autonomous parliament were brought forward to November 1986 because of the split in the PNV and its consequent loss of a majority. The results, however, did nothing to end the tensions within the Basque party system and within Basque society.

The nationalist parties, if we take the total of their votes together, increased their representation, confirming a pattern established since 1979. In the case of Herri Batasuna, its share of the total vote was enough to make it the third-largest party in Euskadi, after the PNV and PSOE-PSE. The Socialists’ share of the vote was lower than in either the general elections of 1986 or the autonomous elections of 1984, but they none the less won more seats than any other single party. Long weeks of intense negotiations brought about a formal alliance between the PNV and PSOE who now jointly control the Basque legislature.

Increasingly, however, the search for a solution to the problems in Euskadi centres upon the need to defeat ETA and put an end to the atmosphere of violence and confrontation which impedes negotiation and compromise. The Madrid government has tried to isolate ETA and Herri Batasuna politically and tactically by promoting an anti-terrorist pact which has been signed by all the nationally-organised parties and by most of the Basque parties, the exceptions being Herri Batasuna and Eusko Alkartasuna, both of which continue to insist that the problem is not one of law and order and that therefore a solution must come through a renegotiation of the relations between Euskadi and Spain; in effect, a renegotiation of the statute of autonomy. Furthermore, a willingness on the part of Madrid to extend Basque autonomy in at least some areas, argues Garaikoetxea of Eusko Alkartasuna, would increase the latent divisions both within ETA and between ETA and Herri Batasuna, which should in turn weaken the ‘extremist’ nationalists within ETA because of their growing isolation. This strategy is in keeping with Garaikoetxea’s long-term goal of incorporating the radical nationalists within Herri Batasuna within the democratic framework without changing the nationalist elements of their discourse, but it is not a course of action which enjoys consensus inside Spain.

One area where autonomy could be deepened without needing to renegotiate the statute of Guernica is policing. The Basque police force, the Ertzaintza, has only 3,100 members and, primarily because of a fear that the Ertzaintza could be infiltrated, it has little access to confidential information kept in Madrid on the identities and movements of ETA members. As a consequence, its effectiveness and its credibility are much reduced. It is perhaps ironic that the Ministry of the Interior is prepared to keep a foreign government (that of France) better informed about ETA than the Basque police force. The proposal by the moderate nationalists of increasing the size of the Ertzaintza meets with little enthusiasm in Madrid.

The Madrid government’s strategy is premised on the belief that the current level of devolution is sufficient and focuses its attention on the struggle to defeat ETA.

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