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We have proposed a White Paper on Calling and Regulating a Plebiscite. And why have we done this? Because we wish to convey to society a sense of legal security, because we wish to convey to Basque society the idea that we are complying with a political commitment that we make as the government of thus country and also that we do this openly and with total transparency, giving Basque society the final say in this matter.
Why?
Because the offer of an agreement made to the President, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, in October last year has been definitively rejected.
The only response we have received has been "No". Always "No"! We find ourselves up against a wall that permanently obstructs any political initiative in this country. And we are not willing to live permanently in a never-ending spiral with no hope of a solution. As Lehendakari and in representation of the legitimate and democratic institutions of the Basque Country, I can say that I am even less willing to accept a situation whereby the Spanish government and the Spanish President are willing to negotiate political agreements with ETA and with Batasuna but are not willing to renegotiate and sign agreements with our democratic Basque institutions. We are not willing to accept this strategy, which places all the political power and competence in the hands of ETA.
We said that we were not going to accept any refusal to discuss this matter and to search for solutions and that we did not accept that everything had come to an end with ETA's decision to break its ceasefire, following negotiations with the Spanish government. We said that democratic Basque institutions had to take action, take the initiative, assume the responsibility in this matter and that we were going to take the initiative by expressing, in the first place, our willingness to reach a political agreements with the Spanish President and that should this offer be refused, that we would take initiatives to break the stalemate. We do not want to return to the past. We, the democratic institutions of the Basque Country, do not want to return to a destructive past characterised by the cruel and inhuman violence of ETA, or the lack of political dialogue between Basque and Spanish institutions, nor between Basque political parties. ETA must not be allowed to dictate to us when we can speak or cannot speak by declaring a ceasefire, or by declaring an end to its ceasefire.
We, the democratic institutions of the Basque Country want to lead this country in the search for solutions in order to achieve peace and political agreements. We are determined to fulfil the undertaking we made to Basque society!
What do we expect?
- From the Basque Parliament, we expect the Yes vote of all political parties to this White Paper. The Yes vote, of course from the parties that support the tripartite government, but also the Yes vote of Aralar, of PP, of EHAK and the Socialist Party of the Basque Country, because we are convinced that no political party, no member of Parliament, will refuse to allow Basque society to have the final word. We have taken this decision calmly but we are firm in our resolve.
The idea that determining the opinion of the people divides the people is incomprehensible. It is just the opposite. What divides a people is doing things without determining the wishes of the people and we cannot understand the argument that by determining the opinion of our own citizens we divide the society in which all of us live.
- From the citizens of the Basque Country, we expect every man and woman in this country to read two, simple questions, in only 45 seconds, and that they forget for a moment the debate in political circles and in the media, which is full of noise and insults, and that they act in consequence.
Don't let anyone decide for you!
What do we want?
- We want peace.
We want to put ETA in its place … by demanding that it abandon violence once and for all.
- We want agreement between Basques.
We want to break the political stalemate by calling on all Basque parties to negotiator and reach an agreement before the end of 2010.
- And we want Basque society to be the one who opens the process on October 25 2008 and the one who ends process in a referendum in 2010. In short, we want Basque society and only Basque society to be the one who legitimises the whole process. From beginning to end.
The questions contained in the Plebiscite Law are as follows:
"Do you agree to support a negotiated end to violence, if ETA declares unequivocally its wish to put an end to violence once and for all?"
"Do you agree to the initiation by all Basque political parties, without exclusions, of a negotiation process to reach a Democratic Agreement on the right of the Basque People to decide their own future, and to the holding of a Referendum on the aforementioned Agreement before the end of 2010?"
Ethical Principal:
"Do you agree to support a negotiated end to violence, if ETA declares unequivocally its wish to put an end to violence once and for all?"
What for? Why?
1.- Because we want peace. Because we need peace. Because the Basque People deserve peace.
We want to put ETA in its place … by demanding that it abandon violence once and for all.
2.- Because we want Basque society to ratify an ethical undertaking against the violence of ETA in similar terms to those put forward in the Ajuria Enea Agreement and in the House of Deputies in May 2005.
This stated expressly, "that the democratic principle that political issues must be resolved only through the legitimate representatives of the people cannot be waived" and "that, while respecting this principal at all times, if the adequate conditions arise for a negotiated end to the violence, based on a clear wish to put an end to the violence and on unambiguous evidence leading to this conviction, we support a process of dialogue between the competent authorities of the State and those who decide to abandon violence".
3.- Because, in accordance with these commitments, the most convincing and effective way of rejecting ETA and violence is to demand that it disappear, once and for all, by telling ETA that only politicians have the right to take political decisions and that we are the legitimate representatives of the people.
Democratic Principle:
"Do you agree to the initiation by all Basque political parties, without exclusions, of a negotiation process to reach a Democratic Agreement on the right of the Basque People to decide their own future, and to the holding of a Referendum on the aforementioned Agreement before the end of 2010?"
What for? Why?
1.- Because we want an Agreement between Basques.
Because we want the State to respect the agreements made between Basques, not as has been the case up to now. The Statute of Gernika, that agreement between Basques, has yet to be fulfilled, 30 years later and the promise made to the Basque People is still unfulfilled, 30 years later.
2.- Because we want to break the political stalemate by calling on all Basque parties to negotiate and reach an agreement on the right of the Basque People to decide their future.
A right to decide at all levels. At a level of economic, social, and cultural self-government; at a level of relations with other Basque Communities and Territories. AND
also the right to decide at a level of the political relations we wish to have with the Spanish State.
3.- Because "we must be able to decide to live together".
- If there is no liberty to decide, coexistence is not free, it is imposed!
- Coexistence and the right to decide are inseparable concepts.
- We want to have the right to decide and the right to coexist in liberty.
4.- Because we want to exercise the right to decide in order to improve the welfare of Basque society, the welfare of each and every one of the men and women who live and work today in this country. However they may think, whoever they may vote for.
- In short, because we want to exercise the right to decide to live better.
Vitoria-Gasteiz, May 28 2008
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