Remember the GAL?

There is certain things that improve when there is a change in the status quo, but some don't, such is the case of the relationship between those in power in Madrid and the Basque people. Yes, Aznar and the PP are the worst thing ever to happen to Euskal Herria, after all, it was Franco's reign of terror all over again.

It was a little bit of cosmic justice to see the midget and his junta to go down in flames after they tried to use the tragedy in Madrid for political gain, they should be taken to The Hague for the way they tried to blame the bombings on the whole of the Basque society and the lies that they told to archive such lame goal.

But the truth is, Zapatero, the new Spanish Prime Minister brings with him the burden of the actions of his own party against the Basques, for it was the PSOE the party that deployed the GAL (Grupos Armados de Liberacion), a state sposored terrorist group that conducted abductions, assasinations and practiced torture against Basque activists.

That may explain what happened in Madrid, here is the note at Berria English:

EAJ-PNV, EA and Nafarroa Bai abstain in vote to endorse Zapatero

The Spanish Congress has nominated Zapatero as Prime Minister with the votes in favour of the PSOE, ERC, IU, BNG, CC and CHA

Aitziber Laskibar

With the investiture session over the deputies or members of the Spanish Congress (lower chamber of parliament) nominated Jose Luis Rodriguez-Zapatero as Spanish Prime Minister with an absolute majority. He won the support not only of his own party, the PSOE, but also of the ERC, the IU- ICV, the BNG, the CC and the CHA (Aragonese Party). Having secured a total of 183 votes Zapatero will be the next Spanish Prime Minister. The Basque nationalist parties represented in the Spanish parliament, however, did not back Zapatero’s nomination, but neither did they vote against it. The EAJ-PNV, EA and Nafarroa Bai wanted to express their “scepticism” by not voting in favour. Nevertheless, they also expressed the “hope” that things would change, because they did not vote against him. The CiU of Catalonia also abstained.

The votes in favour that endorsed the PSOE candidate as Prime Minister came from the 164 members of Zapatero’s own party, from the 8 ERC members, the 5 IU-ICV deputies, the 3 CC (Canary Islands Coalition) members, two came from the BNG and one from the Chunta Aragonesista (Aragonese Party). So Zapatero secured an absolute majority with the backing of 183 votes. The only party that voted against the socialist candidate was the PP. So there were 148 votes against the new Spanish Prime Minister.

With respect to the abstention of the Basque nationalist parties, Begoña Lasagabaster, the EA deputy, explained her own abstention as a “waiting period”. She said she had her doubts as to whether the Zapatero Government would implement “real changes”. She gave the relations between the Spanish Government and the Basque Government as an example and as a test which had to be passed. The Eusko Alkartasuna (EA) deputy abstained as an expression of hope that the next socialist Government could bring about a democratic revival.

Uxue Barkos, the Nafarroa Bai deputy, pointed out yesterday that their abstention had not been aimed at “placing obstacles in the way of the investiture”. Moreover, she was in favour of the abstention option in order “to go on highlighting what the challenges are and the way to facilitate rapprochement.”

As Josu Erkoreka of the EAJ explained in his speech on Thursday, “it is not clear whether the changes Zapatero plans to implement will affect the ways or manner of doing things or whether they will go deeper.”

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