Sanz Against the Ikurriña

Today at Berria:

Sanz wants mayors who fly Basque flag barred from office

The Government of Navarre will resort to the courts to ensure that town councils abide by the Law of Symbols

Editorial Staff – IRUNEA (Pamplona)

In an interview given yesterday on TVE1, the Spanish TV channel, the Navarrese President, Miguel Sanz, said he was planning to take action against the town councils that did not abide by the Law of Symbols; the aim is to penalise the councils who fly the “Ikurrina” or red, white and green Basque flag, and he will be asking the Navarre Government to have the mayors concerned barred from office.

To this end Sanz announced that they would be filing appeals and that it would be the courts which would compel the town council to remove the “Ikurrina”. He said: “We are going to resort to the courts so that they deliver a judgement and if the town council decides not to take any notice, we will be able to bar the mayor from office.” The Law of Symbols prohibits the flying of any flag which is neither the town’s one, the Spanish one nor the European one next to the flag of Navarre. “In fact the flag of the Basque citizens of Navarre is the flag of Navarre; and the “Ikurrina” is the flag of the Basque citizens of Gipuzkoa, Araba and Bizkaia,” as Sanz pointed out yesterday. Indeed, the preamble to the Law of Symbols passed in April makes it clear what this law is designed to achieve: “Previous legislation does not include the necessary legal tools to enable public powers to correct common irregularities effectively . Many town halls fly the flag of the Basque Autonomous Community [of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa], either alone or alongside other flags, when it is clear that Navarre is not a part of that autonomous community. This can lead to confusion with respect to the institutional sphere of the Charter Community of Navarre.”

The EAJ (Basque Nationalist Party), EA (Eusko Alkartasuna-Basque Solidarity Party) and Batasuna (left-wing Basque nationalist party) lost no time responding to the Navarrese Government’s announcement. Fermin Ziaurriz of the Navarrese wing of EA declared that this was “yet another example of the petty tyranny of Sanz’s Government and a further consequence of its inquisitorial behaviour.” EA claimed that the citizens of Navarre were “entitled to express their feelings”.

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