Basque president with the three Provincial Council chief executives. JB.

After receiving the Luxembourg Court's ruling on the pre-judicial question posed by the Higher Basque Court of Justice concerning the three provinces' powers on tax legislation, the Basque regional president made a public appearance at the Guipúzcoa Provincial Council HQ in the company of the three Provincial Council chief executives.

In his declaration, the President accused the conservative Partido Popular and Spanish socialist party PSOE of using double standards on this issue: "you can't defend the Economic Agreement in the Basque Country while attacking it from neighbouring regions where you're in government." He called on them to give up their attacks on Basque self-government for good.

A golden opportunity

Ibarretxe described the ruling as a "golden opportunity" to push through initiatives in favour of the Economic Agreement presented in central Spanish Parliament and thus safeguard the Agreement definitively.

He also underlined the need to "educate" people and politicians in the rest of Spain, where the Economic Agreement is regularly criticised as a privilege. It is, in Ibarretxe's view, a right implying responsibility and risk for Basque institutions, because "if we manage things better than in Spain we'll end up with more resources and if we don't, there'll be fewer resources available."

Europe also needed to learn about the Basque tax system. Ibarretxe reminded journalists that the Basque regional government asked Spanish President José Luis Zapatero to propose its inclusion in the Lisbon Treaty as an appendix. Besides urging the re-launch of the initiative, Ibarretxe announced that the Basque authorities would bring the issue up again and again until the Economic Agreement became part of any forthcoming European treaties, this being the best way to publicize it.  "It's very much a 21st century thing", he said. "It's not going to hurt anyone."

Finally, the Basque president guaranteed that the regional authorities would continue make intelligent use of the Agreement to improve levels of wellbeing enjoyed by the Basques. Indeed, he identified the intelligent use of the region's tax regime as one of the reasons why the Basque economy was responding better than others to the crisis.

Provincial Council chief executives satisfied

The three provincial chief council executives were all pleased with the Court's decision and agreed that the time had come for the state to make the Economic Agreement definitively proof against legal or political attacks.

Guipúzcoa Provincial Council chief Markel Olano said Europe's "unqualified backing" showed the EU had "understood and accepted" Basque self-government. He underlined the Basque authorities' "courage" in the face of doubts expressed elsewhere, and that after the "precedent" set by the EU, "they'll have to show us a bit more respect." He also called on the state authorities to make the Agreement proof against further attacks against the Agreement, so that any appeals could only go as far as the Spanish Constitutional Court.

Vizcaya chief executive José Luis Bilbao underlined the fact that the Luxembourg Court has said that, from now on, when any doubts about the Economic Agreement arise, the criteria to apply will be the ones in the Azores case and not those of the Spanish Supreme Court. He also noted that if the parties voted in the Spanish Parliament the way they already vote in the General provincial Assemblies and the Basque regional parliament, then the Spanish Parliament would approve the process to make the Agreement attack-proof.

Finally, Alava chief executive Xabier Aguirre called for a end to all the live appeals against the Agreement and the Basque region's tax powers made in recent years. Aguirre is clear that the EU's decision equates Basque capacity to legislate taxation with the powers enjoyed by member states. He said the Basque authorities were awaiting the Higher Basque Court of Justice's response to the decision "with optimism" because "we understand that it has no alternative but to accept the European verdict."