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Diversity of Journalisms. Proceedings of ECREA/CICOM Conference, Pamplona, 4-5 July 2011
Taking into account the plan’s legal and political features, and its being subordinated to
the constitutional framework, a main problem can be seen: the impossibility of the
Spanish State – which is made up of different autonomous regions (the regional state
established in 1978) - to adjust to the different historical and geographical realities. As
a consequence, there is a legal vacuum which prevents the particular features of these
entities from being legally recognized. Within this context, the plan – entitled “Proposal
of a Political Statute for the Autonomous Region of Euskadi” – tries to detail the type of
relationship that should be established between the Spanish State and the Basque
autonomous region. Its legitimacy is based on the rights that the Basque citizenship
possesses to decide their own future, one of the key aspects in the statutory articles.
Zallo (1997: 152) explains that sovereignism is a matrix concept within which
nationalism is reconciled with democracy as agreed during the Spanish Transition to
Democracy. Self-determination hence entails the application of sovereignty and the
appearance of different political scenarios which range from achieving different
degrees of autonomy to the creation of a Basque State. “Self-determination” is
nonetheless an empty signifier (Laclau 1996: 36), i.e. a signifier which has no meaning
and whose semantic connotations vary depending on the context where they are
produced.
In spite of this semantic vacuity, two problems can be found when this right is to be
applied (Perales, 2009): its being exercised depends on sovereign will, and sovereignty
is understood as coming from Spanish citizenship as a whole. Formally, Ibarretxe’s
proposal is constitutional: legitimate and protected by the Spanish Constitution when
understood as an initiative proposed by the President as an autonomous region and as
a procedure.Likewise, the Basque government does not mention explicitly a new
Basque State being created, but refers to the need of the Basque community to be
recognized as a national reality (country) within a complex State.
Historical Context
The sovereignist plan proposed by the then president of Euskadi, Juan José Ibarretxe,
clashed against the idea held by the then- PP 80 Central government about the future of
the Spanish State, which they believed should be determined by state unity and the
sovereignty of the entirety of the Spanish people. On the contrary, when PSOE gained
power, there is a new period characterised by implication in the media, and
newspapers taking part in the debate over the right to self-determination.
The so-called Ibarretxe plan was born in a complex context characterized by the 2002-
2003 illegalization process of those political parties associated to the abertzale left and
Batasuna being subsequently included in the EU list of terrorist organizations. At the
same time, some abertzale-left-related mass media were closed and Spain’s Penal
Code was reformed, hence managing to penalize any referendum being called by the
80 PP as standing for Partido Popular, a centre-right party, and PSOE for Partido Socialista Obrero Español, a socialist
party.
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