Yin and Yang

On one side the Basques work, they present their plea to the world, on the other, the Spaniards cling to their old glories, repeating their mantras ad nauseum.

Here you have a couple of notes appeared today at Berria.

On one you see the Basques being proactive and getting the whole of Europe involved. On the other one you have Madrid's representatives calling Basques that do not agree with them by the "T" word.

Batasuna meets with Italian members of parliament in Rome

All the representatives agreed that the Basque conflict “is a problem within the sphere of Europe” and that the solutions also had to be sought in Europe

Editorial Staff

Batasuna was present in the Italian Parliament yesterday in a meeting with deputies of the Communist Party, the Rifondazione Comunista and the Green Party. Arnaldo Otegi, Juan Joxe Petrikorena and Joseba Alvarez, members of Batasuna’s executive committee, explained Batasuna’s proposal aimed at resolving the Basque conflict. Otegi and Alvarez offered a press conference afterwards to give details of the meeting they had had with the deputies. They were accompanied during yesterday’s press briefing by Mauro Bulgarelli, a Green Party member of parliament.

The party’s executive committee members pointed out first of all that, despite Batasuna being an outlawed party, they had been able to meet “perfectly normally” in the Italian Parliament with members of the parties represented there. So they expressed their gratitude to the three parties that had met with them and “for opening the doors of Parliament”. No Batasuna members have been at the Parliament in Rome for the last five years.

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Zapatero says linking of “coexistence and identity” will be achieved

Jose Luis Rodriguez-Zapatero and Javier Rojo were in Gasteiz yesterday; Rojo said the outlawing of Batasuna was “the right thing”, because it kept the supporters of “terrorism” off the town councils

Edurne Begiristain – GASTEIZ (Vitoria)

The celebrations in Gasteiz (Vitoria) to mark 25 years of Democratic Town Councils organised by the Spanish Federation of Town Councils (FEMP) ended in much the same way as they began three weeks ago: with a visit by one of the highest Spanish authorities. The inauguration in the capital of Araba was attended by the King and Queen of Spain and the closing ceremony by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez-Zapatero.

In a speech given at the Goiurri Palace yesterday afternoon Zapatero said the Basque Country was “proud” of its history and that “with everyone working together” it would be proud of its future, too. He felt that it would be possible for “coexistence and identity to be linked” in the future in the Basque Country.

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