Bildu boycotts a motion for a Basque republic in local councils
The Basque nationalists refuse to submit a text calling for independence to the plenary sessions to avoid confrontation with the state.
BarcelonaLess than a year ago, the Biscayan municipality of Plentzia approved a motion declaring itself an integral part of a Basque republic. It did so following an initiative by the Ehun association, which advocates a unilateral path to independence, with the vote in favor of EH Bildu, which governs with an absolute majority, and the abstention of the PNV (Basque Nationalist Party). The proponents of the proposal then highlighted its importance as it was the first time an institution had declared itself part of the Basque republic. "The people of Plentzia have self-determined," declared Ehun.
Amid the euphoria, which continued with the placement of a sign at the entrance to the town announcing the symbolic liberation of this town of 4,000 inhabitants, the organization announced it would meet with officials, unions, and political parties to expand on the matter. Nothing could be further from the truth. Plentzia has not become the Arenys de Munt of the Basque Country. There has been no wave of motions in Basque town councils. And not because of legal action, because the Spanish nationalist organizations did not challenge the resolution as they had threatened to do. Curiously, it was the Basque nationalist left itself that boycotted it.
Sources from the organization reveal that they met shortly after the motion was presented with the leadership of EH Bildu, who not only disavowed the initiative but also viewed it as an "aggression" in a political context in which they do not advocate confrontation with the state. And the Basque nationalist group, which has declined to comment publicly, has gone from words to actions. A few weeks ago, it sent a circular to its municipal groups, to which ARA has had access, demanding that they not present the motion and that if another party does so, they should abstain from the vote.
And so they did last week in Durango, where the party led by Arnaldo Otegi abstained, and the motion failed because the PNV, which brought it to the plenary session, along with the PSE and the PP, voted against it. Bildu and PNV presented an urgent alternative motion to Ehun's, which was successful, in which they advocated "taking steps forward toward a new status based on bilateral relations and the right to decide." This is the argument that EH Bildu defends in the circular to distance itself from Ehun's motion. The Basque nationalist party believes that the support that Pedro Sánchez's government needs from the pro-independence forces opens "a window of opportunity for stateless nations to resolve the political conflict, also on the territorial issue," which they should take advantage of.
In this sense, it rejects the idea that adherence to this institutional declaration implies "taking steps toward independence" and that it is an initiative that "has no consequences" and that "begins and ends the moment it is approved." "Unilateral recognition of the Basque Republic does not make a qualitative contribution to the liberation of our people," the text from the leadership of the Aberzales states. In the background, there is also Bildu's fight to wrest the hegemony of Basque nationalism from the PNV after it has been closing the gap in recent elections.
Dissolution of the entity
Faced with Bildu's refusal to support the motion, Ehun decided last week to dissolve as an association. "It's difficult to go against the grain against a party where discipline prevails and no one dares to criticize the leadership, and we don't have the capacity to campaign," maintain sources within the organization. Before dissolving, Ehun has decided to register the motions in around 100 municipalities in order to ensure the debate continues. The next stop will be on April 16 in Vitoria, which will be the first capital to comment on the matter.
However, Ehun denounces that Bildu has decided not to process it in the municipalities where it governs. "It has paralyzed it. We have been registering them for a month now, and it has not been debated in any plenary session, nor is it scheduled for any date, although they are obliged to bring it to the plenary session because, as a political association, we have the right to do so," they point out from Ehun, warning that they could commit "a crime of prevarication" if they do not justify why. Despite the boycott by the institutional leader of the Aberzale left, the association boasts that it has proposed "another path" to achieving independence, which involves "putting sovereignty into practice" and "not waiting for recognition of self-determination, which will never be accepted and which only lulls the conflict into slumber and weakens the independence movement."
