Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country of 1979

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Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country of 1979 Creation of the Basque Autonomous Community
Date						25 October 1979
Type						Referendum
Campaign duration						From 4 to 23 October
Electoral demography
Registered						1 565 541
Voters						921 436
Participation
							58.85 %
Outcome
Yes.										90.27 %
No.										5.50 %
White vote										3.40 %
Null vote										1.15 %

The Basque Country Autonomy Statute of 1979 (in Basque: 1979ko Euskadiko Autonomia Estatuta), known as the Guernica Statute (in Basque: Gernikako Statutua), is the institutional norm by which the Basque Country, in expression of its nationality, agreed to its self-government, constituting itself as an autonomous community within Spain. Throughout its history, the Basque Country has had two statutes of autonomy, the 1936 Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country, approved in the midst of the Civil War and which could only be put into practice in the province of Vizcaya (since Guipúzcoa and Álava were in the hands of the rebels) and that of 1979 (Organic Law 3/1979, of December 18, of the Statute of Autonomy for the Basque Country), also called the "Guernica Statute".

Autonomy Statute of 1979

In accordance with the second transitory provision of the Spanish Constitution of 1978, the Basque Country had the requirements to access a provisional regime of autonomy that would allow it to draw up a draft statute in accordance with the provisions of article 151 of the same. In addition, the first additional provision recognized their "historical rights", which would be updated in the autonomous regime that was intended to be built. However, the requirements demanded in article 151 of the Spanish Constitution would not be required of territories that in the past had affirmatively voted for their own autonomy statutes, as was the case of the Basque Country (in addition to Galicia and Catalonia), which it had demonstrated this fact in the approval of its Statute of 1936, already begun the Spanish civil war (Andalusia will be the only community that takes advantage of this route fulfilling such requirements). Thus, the Basque Country agreed to the maximum degree of autonomy included in the Constitution (article 151) immediately.

Given the impossibility of integrating the Comunidad Foral de Navarra in a common project, due to the opposition of the majority of the Navarrese political parties, the Assembly of Basque Parliamentarians, meeting in May 1977, approved the elaboration of a draft statute of autonomy that would be presented to the Government, Parliament and that would have to be approved in a referendum.

Writing process

After the General Meetings of each «historical territory» were provisionally constituted in 1977 —the name that the Basque provinces and Navarre will receive from then on—, a royal decree in January of the following year established the formation of the Basque General Council as the highest body of pre-autonomous Government, made up of three representatives from each historical territory elected by their General Assemblies. Its performance was hampered both by the proliferation of similar organizations in all Spanish regions and by the central government's lack of willingness to proceed with actual transfers of power. In any case, in accordance with what was decided by the Assembly of Basque Parliamentarians, in December 1978 a drafting paper was set up for a preliminary draft of the statute of autonomy which, after concluding its work in haste and having it approved by the Assembly, sent the draft to the central government on December 29.

Referendum

Submitted to a referendum on October 25, 1979, it was approved with a participation of 58.85% of the census and 90.27% of affirmative votes.

The affirmative vote was defended by the majority of the parties (Basque Nationalist Party, Socialist Party of Euskadi, Union of Democratic Center, Euskadiko Ezkerra, Communist Party of Euskadi, Labor Party of Spain, Revolutionary Organization of Workers, Carlist Party of Euskalherria, Spanish Socialist Workers Party (Historical Sector), Republican Left, Euskal Sozialistak Elkartzeko Indarra) and by the armed organization ETA (pm). Abstention was the alternative defended by the Herri Batasuna coalition and by the Euskadiko Mugimendu Komunista, Organización de Izquierda Comunista and Liga Komunista Iraultzailea parties. For their part, Alianza Popular (later refounded as the Partido Popular) and Unión Nacional asked for a vote against, considering that the autonomy of the towns was a threat to the unity of Spain.

Features

It consists of a total of 47 articles, divided into a preliminary title and four ordinary ones, one additional provision and nine transitory provisions.

The Statute establishes a parliamentary system of government, in which the Lendakari must receive the confidence of the Basque Parliament, which is elected by universal suffrage and made up of 75 deputies (25 for each of the three historical territories).

What makes the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country different from the others is not the number of powers transferred —or that can be transferred, since the process has not yet been completed—, but the fact that, at the Once in the constitutional order, Basque autonomy is based on historical forality, recognized in the Spanish Constitution. Based on this assumption, the Basque Country obtains a special financing procedure (only equivalent to that of Navarra) based on an update of the economic agreements established after the abolition of the fueros in 1876, which were maintained in Álava and Navarra, but had repealed in Guipúzcoa and Vizcaya by the Franco regime at the end of the Civil War. Likewise, the Statute allows the formation of its own police force, the Ertzaintza, with the vocation of being an integral police force and deployed throughout the territory. Finally, it is also a certain vision of the forality that leads to the creation of a special territorial organization, in which the foral councils have so many powers that they sometimes come into conflict with the Basque Government.