Basque Nationalist Party

The Basque Nationalist Party, officially called the Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea-Basque Nationalist Party (in Basque, Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea; in French, Parti Nationaliste Basque; EAJ-PNV or, in France, EAJ-PNB), is a party politician created in 1895 of Basque nationalist, liberal and Christian Democrat ideology, which is located between the center and center-right of the political spectrum. Its traditional motto is Jaungoikoa eta lege zaharra ("God and the old law"). Its activity is located in the Basque Country, Navarra, the French Basque Country and the Treviño enclave (Burgos province, Castilla y León). It also has delegations in Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela. Since 1978, it has been, with some exceptions such as the government of Patxi López between 2009 and 2012, the party with the greatest institutional presence in the Basque Country.

Sabin Etxea is the headquarters of the PNV and is located in Bilbao.

Founded in 1895 by Sabino Arana, it is the second oldest political party that emerged in Spain today, after the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). He held the presidency of the Government of Euzkadi since the promulgation of the first Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country in 1936, in the midst of the Spanish civil war, with José Antonio Aguirre as the first Lendakari. He maintained the presidency in exile and, after the promulgation of the Guernica Statute in 1979, he presided over the Basque Government from 1980 to 2009 without interruption. It is the party with the greatest presence in the institutions of the Basque Country and with the largest number of affiliates (&&&&&&&&&&025000.&&&&&025,000). It is represented with its own parliamentary group in the Congress of Deputies and in the Senate of Spain, as well as in the Basque Parliament. In Navarre, he is part of the Geroa Bai coalition, which currently holds the presidency of the Foral Parliament. Its presence in the French Basque Country is small, although in some elections it has been the leading force in the Basque nationalist spectrum. It also has a representative in the European Parliament and is attached to the European Democratic Party.

"Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea" is not the literal translation of "Basque Nationalist Party", but rather it would come to mean "Basque Party of JEL sympathizers". The JEL corresponds to the Basque expression Jaungoikoa eta lege zaharra (in Spanish, God and the old law), referring to to the fueros, in reference to the principles of the political-religious tradition that the PNV defended in its beginnings, although it is currently a self-declared non-denominational party since 1977. Due to that acronym, PNV sympathizers receive the name jeltzales.

Annually, and since 1932, the PNV celebrates Easter Day, the Aberri Eguna (which literally means Day of the Basque Homeland). Every year, since 1977, on the last Sunday of September, the closest to San Miguel de Aralar, a massive festival, the Alderdi Eguna. Its headquarters are called batzokis and there are currently more than 200 throughout the world.

Ideology

In its statutes, the PNV defines itself as a «Basque, democratic, non-denominational and humanist party, open to progress and to all movements for the advancement of civilization that benefit the human being». It is a Christian Democratic and nationalist party. For the most part, the PNV has been defined by political scientists and the media as a center-right party, although some, such as the European Social Survey, place it in the center within the left-right axis.

In the beginning, he based his approaches on the traditional principles of romantic nationalism of the XIX century (such as language, religion and race) and was aligned with the principles of the Church's social doctrine. At present he mainly claims the right to self-determination for the Basque historical territories, known as Euskal Herria.

As Basque nationalists we will work to articulate the Basque territories politically, but keeping at all times that neither history nor geography according to past schemes are determining realities to the future. In the democratic political culture we profess, political projects are legitimized by the explicit consent of the citizenry. The common future of the Basques is to be configured around a free and democratically shared project (Iñigo Urkullu, April 2008).

However, its official ideology still speaks of its "transcendent conception of existence with the affirmation of the Basque Nation, whose political being must be expressed from the recovery of its national sovereignty".

In a survey conducted by the Basque Government in 2012, it was determined that PNV voters considered themselves center-left. The results obtained from the survey placed 22% of PNV voters on the left, only 8% right-wing, and the remaining 60% center, the same parity as socialist voters.

Position regarding ETA

The PNV has repeatedly condemned ETA and has denounced all its attacks. It has been the target of attacks by ETA and the milieu of the radical Abertzale left, although it has never had fatalities, nor have been the target of any attack. On occasions, some politicians have accused the PNV of having maintained a position of deliberate ambiguity regarding the actions of ETA. However, the PNV and ETA maintained generally hostile relations.

After the legalization of the PNV in 1977, an assembly was held in Pamplona in which the PNV issued a statement condemning violence "wherever it comes from".^{[citation required]} The first demonstration called by a party against ETA was on June 28, 1978, called by the PCE-EPK in Portugalete.

On the part of its political opponents,^[who?] the PNV has been accused in the media on a large number of occasions of having maintained a position ambiguous regarding the action against the ETA environment. None of them has ever filed a complaint against the PNV for collaboration with ETA or with terrorism. The terrorist organization ETA has assassinated EAJ-PNV sympathizers and affiliates,^{[citation needed]} has threatened and tried to attack its leaders and the Jeltzal headquarters have been attacked on several occasions.

History

Sabino Arana was the founder and first leader of the PNV.

After the Carlist wars, the abolition of the fueros and the rise of industrialization that brought strong immigration and a great change in a short time for Biscayan society, Sabino Arana interpreted romantic nationalism echoing the European nationalist current, and founded the Basque Nationalist Party in 1895 with the aim of achieving the independence of "Euzkadi" (the Basque territories) and founding a Basque State. Until well into the XX century, it would only have a presence in the city of Bilbao, where the party's official newspaper was published: Bizkaitarra.

He had a conflictive relationship with Carlism, since Basque nationalism accused him of being "Spanish," and Carlism, for its part, accused Basque nationalism of "separatist" and "unpatriotic". In its beginnings the relationship between both parties was confrontational; later on cooperation in defense of the fueros, as in the case of the Alianza Foral of 1921, and finally full enmity during the Spanish civil war.

Splits

The history of the PNV is defined by the fact that it remains faithful to a community party model in which there has traditionally been an orthodox wing faithful to the principles of Sabino Arana and another of a more possibilistic nature. The names of these sectors have changed over time and have given rise to various splits, the most notable being the following:

• In 1909 the Basque Nationalist Party was founded and in 1911 the Basque Nationalist Republican Party, which is considered the predecessors of Basque Nationalist Action in the opposition to the hegemony of the PNV within Basque nationalism.

• In 1921 there is another split, in which the PNV lost its name and was divided into the majority and most moderate Basque Nationalist Communion and Aberri, which was composed of a more nationalist and independentist sector. They met in 1930.

• In 1930, Basque Nationalist Action (EAE-ANV) a leftist nationalist party emerged, which did not agree with the consolidation of the PNV by those two other sectors, to which it considered more conservative. ANV went up to 2008, when it was illegally linked to Batasuna and ETA.

• In 1958, the Ekin group of the youth organization of the PNV, Euzko Gaztedi Indarra (EGI) was split, which had been incorporated shortly before, considering the policy of the PNV against Francoism too moderate. This excision would then be the origin of ETA.

• In 1982 the Euzkotarrak collective was split, with the aim of recovering the Sabinian orthodoxy. In the ideological aspect it was characterized as an independentist in the national and more conservative than the PNV in the social. He was led by Antón Ormaza, former president of the Bizkai Buru Batzar and expelled from the party in 1980, and had his main nucleus in the Vietnamese town of Bermeo. Subsequently, this group entered the next split of the party, Eusko Alkartasuna.

• In 1986, Eusko Alkartasuna (EA) was split, mainly due to the discrepancies of the then Lensakari Carlos Garaikoetxea (the later leader of the split) and the leadership of the PNV. EA is a social-democratic party, which is prone to self-determination and is currently independent and integrated in Euskal Herria Bildu together with other political parties on the left abertzale.

Internal organization

Photograph by Alderdi Eguna (Party Day) in 2007.

The PNV has a structure that functions at three levels: municipal, regional or territorial, and national, separating its public representation from its internal bodies. There are 233 municipal organizations, with a total of more than 25,000 members.

The social implantation of the party is reinforced with the batzokis, the social headquarters of the PNV. The first of them was inaugurated on July 14, 1894 in the old town of Bilbao, one year before the formal constitution of the PNV as a party. Today there are almost 200 batzokis spread all over the world. In February 2007, its virtual batzoki (e-batzokia) was inaugurated, which was the 176th social headquarters of the PNV.

The executive body of the PNV, the Euzkadi Buru Batzar (EBB), is chaired by Andoni Ortuzar. The EBB is also made up of the presidents of the Regional Councils (Bizkaia, Itxaso Atutxa; Guipúzcoa, Joseba Egibar; Araba, José Antonio Suso; Nafarroa, Unai Hualde; Iparralde, Pako Arizmendi) and eight burukides (members of the Council) elected by the National Assembly from among those proposed by the territorial assemblies. The regional councils, made up of between ten and fifteen members, are the Bizkai Buru Batzar (BBB) in Vizcaya, the Gipuzko Buru Batzar (GBB) in Guipúzcoa), the Araba Buru Batzar (ABB) in Álava), the Napar Buru Batzar (NBB) in Navarra) and the Ipar Buru Batzar (IBB) from the French Basque Country. In addition, there are independent executive bodies of these five in Madrid, Barcelona, Venezuela and Argentina.

• The youth organization of the PNV is Euzko Gaztedi Indarra (EGI), founded in 1904.
• In 1911 the PNV created its own union, Solidarity of Basque Workers (ELA-STV), although it is currently not organically linked to training.
• In 1988 the Sabino Arana Foundation was formed, focusing on the knowledge of the history of Basque nationalism, as well as its preservation and dissemination.

Institutional representation

The PNV is widely established in two Spanish autonomous communities: the Basque Country and Navarra, although it is also present in the enclave of Treviño (Castilla y León). Coalition for Europe, of which the PNV was a part, became the leading force in the municipality of Valle de Villaverde (Cantabria) in the 2009 and 2014 European elections, although it did not run for municipal or regional elections in said territory.

The PNV has led (alone or in coalition with other parties) the Basque Government, having its presidency (Lehendakaritza), since 1980 (except for a period from May 2009 to December 2012; Patxi López, from the PSE- assuming EE, the Lehendakaritza). After the 2012 regional elections, Iñigo Urkullu became the seventh lendakari in history and the sixth lendakari of the PNV.

Iñigo Urkullu, of the PNV, present Lenakari since the October 2012 elections.

It has two parliamentary groups in the Congress of Deputies and in the Senate.

Electoral evolution

• The 1998 Basque Parliament elections were preceded by the nationalist pacts that led to the indefinite ETA truce and the Pact of Estella, as well as the rupture of the tripartite government when the PSE of the PNV and Eusko Alkartasuna (EA) were disconnected. Moreover, for the first time since the end of the Franco dictatorship, the PP was at the head of the Government of Spain.

PNV and EA presented themselves in coalition for the first time in these elections, slightly worsening their results; while the PP and the left abertzale were reinforced, which was presented under the acronyms of Euskal Herritarrok (EH). The PNV won in Vizcaya, EH in Guipúzcoa and the PP in Álava. However, the same proportion was maintained between Basque nationalists (41 seats) and the rest of the forces (34), although with a reordering in each of the blocks. Juan José Ibarretxe was first invested in lendakari, thanks to the support of EA and EH.

• The 2001 Basque Parliament elections took place in a climate of tension following the break of the Pact of Estella and the ETA truce.

For the first time, the left and right "constitutionalists" presented a common strategy to remove the PNV from the autonomous power. This policy of fronts benefited the PNV-EA coalition, which was reprinted as a response, winning in the three provinces and obtaining 33 parliamentarians and 42.37 % of the votes; while the PP and the PSE were unable to surpass them, obtaining less seats (32 between the two) and votes (40.6 % in total with 22.9 % and 17.7% respectively). These results led to a new tripartite (PNV-EA-EB) in minority, with 36 seats over 75.

• In Navarre, the PNV joined the Nafarroa Bai coalition in 2003 together with Aralar, Eusko Alkartasuna, Batzarre and independent candidates, obtaining one of the five deputies. In the municipal and forum elections of Navarre of May 2007, Nafarroa Bai became the second political force of the community (after UPN) with 12 parliamentarians and 120 councillors. The public offices are proposed by the coalition parties and the proposal of one of the representatives in the Parliament of Navarre and 24 councillors corresponded to the PNV. In some Navarre localities the PNV came out of the coalition, specifically in Lesaca, Aranaz, Yanci and Vera de Bidasoa, obtaining another nine councillors and two mayors. In 2011 with Nafarroa Bai composed of PNV, Aralar and independent again became the first nationalist force in Navarre, third force in the foral community and second party in Pamplona.

• In the 2005 Basque Parliament elections, together with EA, it obtained 29 seats (22 the PNV and 7 EA) corresponding to 38.67 % of the electorate.

• In the Basque Country, after the 2007 municipal elections, the PNV obtained a total of 1024 councillors in the Basque City Councils, maintaining its hegemony as a majority political force followed by the PSE-EE (339 ediles) and ANV (337). After the post-electoral pacts he obtained the three provincial representatives of Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa and Álava.

• The 2008 general elections were a serious setback of the PNV, which lost almost 120 000 votes and a seat, not getting to be the most voted list in any of the Basque provinces (according to Vizcaya and Guipuzcoa after the PSE-PSOE and third in Álava after the PSE-PSOE and the PP), or in its capitals (third after the PSE-PS). He obtained 303 246 votes (27.14 % in the Basque Country), which were translated into six seats. In the Senate elections he obtained two senators, one by Guipúzcoa and another by Vizcaya, who join the one he already has for autonomic designation. In Navarre, Nafarroa Bai maintained its results and a record of deputies.

• In the 2009 elections to the Basque Parliament, the PNV, on this occasion running solo, obtained more than 396 000 votes, representing 30 seats (38.56 %), being the most voted party in Vizcaya and Guipúzcoa and less than 2000 suffrages (1.20 %) of the PSE-PSOE in Álava, but leaving in the air the possibility of obtaining sufficient support to preserve the lehendakaritza. Having not obtained Eusko Alkartasuna (EA) or Ezker Batua-Berdeak, his former government partners, the support necessary to conform with them a sufficient majority, Patxi López, of the PSE-EE, was invested lendakari by the Basque Parliament with the support of the PP.

• For the elections to the European Parliament of 2009, the PNV revalidos its coalition with Convergència and Unió Democràtica de Catalunya. However, the refusal of the Nationalist Block Galego (BNG) caused the historical denomination "Galeusca" to disappear and, with the entry of other partners such as the Canarian Coalition (CC) or the Andalusian Party (PA), the candidacy Coalition for Europe will form. The second post of the candidature was occupied by Izaskun Bilbao, outgoing president of the Basque Parliament, who obtained the minutes of MEP.

In France, despite the participation of the PNV in the Federation of Solidarity Regions and Towns, which gave its support to the ecologist Europe Écologie candidacy, it decided to run alone, for the first time, only in the South-West constituency, under the name Euskadi Europan (Basque in Europe), with Jean Telletxea, councilor of Urrugne, as head of the list. The cause was the discomfort of the PNV with José Bové, head of the Europe Écologie list in the South-West constituency, due to its positions on the European construction and the methods of action, which the PNV described as "undemocratic".

The PNV was the leading political force in the Basque Country (207,040 votes, 28.54%), although it lost almost seven percentage points compared to previous elections, with the PSE-EE less than one point behind. In Navarra it obtained 3,601 votes (1.80%), being the seventh force in the foral community. Euskadi Europan obtained 4,138 votes (1.98% in the Atlantic Pyrenees).

In the French Basque Country, being the president of the IBB the former councillor of Anglet Ramuntxo Camblong, the PNV refused to participate in the Euskal Herria Bai coalition, due to the presence of Batasuna. In 2008, the PNB had nine councillors elected on the lists of the municipal majority in the March 2008 French municipal elections in Bayona, San Juan de Luz, Urrugne, Ciboure, Ascain, San Juan Pie de Puerto and Macaye. In the March 2014 French municipal elections, 14 GNP councillors were elected.

• In the 2011 municipal elections, the PNV became the first political force in Euskadi, reaching 326 165 votes. By territories, the breakdown of results:

In Vizcaya he became the first force and achieved 22 junctions in the General Boards, which served him to turn Jose Luis Bilbao back into the General Council of the territory. The presence of Bildu subtracted local power, losing mayoralties such as Bermeo, Marquina-Jeméin or Ondárroa, but at the same time became the key for the PNV to govern in other municipalities such as Valle de Trápaga, Basauri or Sestao (ruly governed by the PSE-EE). Among its best results would be the 15 councillors in Bilbao, who gave the absolute majority for Iñaki Azkuna to repeat as mayor, as well as the results of Santurce, where he achieved 12 councillors against 9 that the opposition parties achieved, a people of historical socialist tradition.

In Guipúzcoa it remained as second force, although on this occasion behind Bildu, and far from the third force that was the PSE-EE. Bildu recovered mayors to the detriment of those that had reached the PNV due to the illegalization of the left abertzale in many municipalities. Despite all, the PNV reached 10,000 votes in front of the previous elections and maintained the mayorships of Aya, Urnieta, Elgóibar and Fuenterrabía, taking their best results in the first and last. In addition, it allowed Bildu to rule as important as Rentería, San Sebastián and Andoáin (ruled by the PSE-EE) thanks to their abstention, or even with their support as in Lasarte-Oria, where the elections won the PSE-EE. In San Sebastian there were about 3000 votes, which meant one more councillor. It became the first force in the neighborhoods of El Antiguo and Ibaeta, and achieved its highest vote in the city center district.

In Álava the PNV maintained the results of the previous elections, but as in Guipúzcoa, the presence of Bildu subtracted it from municipal power. He lost the municipality of Llodio (second most populous municipality of the territory), but got the mayor's office of Amurrio (third most populous town, ruled before by EA). In Vitoria he maintained his six councillors, but he passed from third to second force in number of votes.

• In the 2012 Basque Parliament elections, the PNV became the most voted force in the Basque Country. The PNV obtained about 385 000 votes and 27 seats, bringing about 107 000 votes and 6 seats of difference to the second political force, which was the Euskal Herria Bildu coalition. The percentage obtained was more than 34.6 %, almost ten points more than the second most voted force.

In Vizcaya it was the most voted force obtaining 11 seats, more than 230,000 votes, and around almost 38.5 % of the cast vote. It was the most voted force in most municipalities in the historical territory, and in practice all large municipalities.

In Álava it was the most voted force in the territory of Alavés obtaining 7 seats, with more than 40 000 votes and around 26 % of the cast vote.

In Guipuzcoa it was second force, but less than 600 votes of the Euskal Herria Bildu coalition and placed as the most voted force. It reached 32 % of the vote emitted by achieving 9 parliamentarians by obtaining more than 114 000 votes.

Election results

Municipal elections

Elections to the Basque Parliament

Elections to the Parliament of Navarre

General Election

European Parliament elections

European affiliation

The PNV positioned itself in favor of the European Constitution in the referendum held in Spain in 2005.

Currently^[when?] the PNV is part of the European Democratic Party together with the Union for French Democracy (Union pour la Démocratie Française) (UDF) French and La Margherita Italian.

Previously, the PNV was a founding member of the Christian Democratic International, signing its start in 1947 at the party's headquarters in exile, in Paris. The PNV had left the European People's Party (EPP) in 1999 to join the Greens, after not being invited to the EPP summit that year, and left the Centrist Democrat International in 2000 at the behest of the PP by 125 votes to favor against 9, due to the fact that the PNV did not abide by the modification of the Statutes that imposed its mandatory membership of the European People's Party; According to members of the IDC, the expulsion of the PNV was also caused by contacts with ETA prior to one of the organization's truces. For its part, the PNV denounced a conservative turn within the IDC.

In June 2008, the president of the PNV, Iñigo Urkullu, was appointed vice-president of the European Democratic Party. Andoni Ortuzar is currently vice-president. Izaskun Bilbao is vice president of the ALDE group in the European Parliament in the 2014-2019 legislature.

Relations with other nationalist and regionalist parties

The Regionalist Party of Cantabria (PRC) initially had the support of the PNV in its statutory search for Cantabria. Leaders of both parties participated in common events, such as the one held in March 1981 in Vitoria in which Carlos Garaikoetxea, president of the Basque General Council and future Lendakari, shared the podium with the regionalist leader Miguel Ángel Revilla, promising unconditional support for a future Cantabrian autonomous community.

A promoter of Cantabrian autonomy, his decision not to run in the general elections and his weak electoral support meant that his participation in the autonomous process was a minority. Thus, there was a single representative of the PRC, Esteban Solana, in the Mixed Assembly of parliamentarians and provincial deputies (made up of deputies and senators elected by Cantabria together with the 27 provincial deputies) constituted on September 10, 1979 (by 22 from the Union of Centro Democrático and 11 of the PSOE) to draw up the statute of Autonomy. The Assembly elected a ten-member panel, in which Solana also participated, to prepare the preliminary draft statute. On June 2, 1980, the Assembly approved the draft statute with the sole vote in favor of the representatives of the UCD. The regionalist representative accompanied the socialists in their rejection. As a result of the collaboration between regionalists and Basque nationalists, it was these who, since the PRC lacked representation in the Congress of Deputies, made their voices heard, through their then spokesperson Marcos Vizcaya, as a member of the presentation, the voice of the Cantabrian regionalists during the processing of the statute in the Spanish Cortes.

Presidents of the PNV since 1895

• 1895-1903 Sabino Arana Goiri.
• 1903-1906 Angel Zabala Ozamiz, Kondaño.
• 1906-1908 Colegiate delegation composed of Santiago Alda, Alipio Larrauri, Antonio Arroyo, Vicente Larrinaga and Eduardo Arriaga.
• 1908-1915 Luis Arana.
• 1915-1917 Ramón Bikuña
• 1917-1920 Gorgonio de Rentería
• 1920-1930 Ignacio de Rotaeche
• 1921-1923 Juan de Eguileor
• 1923-1928 Alipio Larrauri
• 1928-1930
• 1930-1932 Ramón Bikuña
• 1932-1933 Luis Arana Goiri
• 1933-1934 Jesus Doxandabaratz
• 1934-1935 Isaac López Mendizábal
• 1935-1951 Doroteo de Ziáurriz
• 1951-1957 Juan Ajuriaguerra
• 1957-1962 José Aguerre
• 1962-1971 College composed by Joseba Rezola, Jesús Solaun and Ignacio Unceta
• 1971-1975 Mikel Isasi
• 1975-1977 Ignacio Unceta
• 1977-1980 Carlos Garaikoetxea
• 1980-1984 Xabier Arzalluz
• 1984-1985 Román Sudupe
• 1985-1987 Jesus Insausti, Uzturre
• 1987-2004 Xabier Arzalluz
• 2004-2008 Josu Jon Imaz
• 2008-2013 Iñigo Urkullu
• From 2013 Andoni Ortuzar

Allied Parties

• Convergència i Unió (Catalonia)
• Join (Catalonia)
• Junts per Catalunya (Catalonia)
• The Pi-Proposta per les Illes (The Balearic Islands)
• Geroa Bai (Navarra)
• AxYes (Andalusia)
• Canary Islands Coalition
• Commitment to Galicia (Galicia)
• Breton Party (Breath)