Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09MADRID1026
2009-10-20 13:38:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Madrid
Cable title:  

SPAIN: BASQUE REGION REFLECTS ON POLITICAL CHANGE

Tags:  PGOV PTER SP PINS 
pdf how-to read a cable
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DE RUEHMD #1026/01 2931338
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 201338Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1355
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 4161
RUEHMD/USDAO MADRID SP
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 001026 

SIPDIS

EUR/WE FOR ALEX MCKNIGHT AND STACIE ZERDECKI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/18/2019
TAGS: PGOV PTER SP PINS
SUBJECT: SPAIN: BASQUE REGION REFLECTS ON POLITICAL CHANGE
IN 2009

REF: A. MADRID 499

B. MADRID 139

C. MADRID 707

MADRID 00001026 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Acting Deputy Chief of Mission William H. Duncan for rea
sons 1.4 (b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 001026

SIPDIS

EUR/WE FOR ALEX MCKNIGHT AND STACIE ZERDECKI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/18/2019
TAGS: PGOV PTER SP PINS
SUBJECT: SPAIN: BASQUE REGION REFLECTS ON POLITICAL CHANGE
IN 2009

REF: A. MADRID 499

B. MADRID 139

C. MADRID 707

MADRID 00001026 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Acting Deputy Chief of Mission William H. Duncan for rea
sons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: A broad range of Basque politicians and
civic leaders privately reflected privately on political
changes in the Basque Region in 2009 and assessed the first
four months of the Socialist (PSE) government led by
Lehendakari - regional premier or U.S Governor equivalent -
Patxi Lopez (See Refs A and B) in separate mid-September
meetings with POLOFF. While nearly all of those consulted
agreed that there has been significant change in the region,
there were mixed reviews on how successful the PSE government
has been in its initial months in office. For its part, the
PSE drove home the message that it is trying to make the
Basque Region "normal" and "boring" to counter its long-held
reputation for violence and conflict. Both the PSE and its
de facto junior partner, the conservative Popular Party (PP),
suggested their alliance was likely to last for the duration
of the four-year legislature. END SUMMARY.

//PSE: Important Changes Will Take Time to Consolidate//


3. (C) Andoni Unzalu, Secretary General for Communications
and a key Lopez political adviser, Guillermo Echenique,
Secretary General for Foreign Relations, and Irune
Aguirrezabal, Director of Foreign Relations, on September 9
told POLOFF that they were "satisfied" with the PSE's
progress to date and suggested that little by little, the PSE
was implementing important changes, but these symbolic
efforts were not necessarily quantifiable. These officials
from the Office of the Lehendakari asserted that they are
"winning the first steps of this battle" and that the public
knows that Lopez will defend the interests of all Basques.
They further claimed that the Basque public is "learning to
live in more than a monocolor world" after 70 years of
"totalitarian rule," first by General Franco and later by the
PNV. Unzalu stated that he did not have the least doubt that
the PSE can count on the support of the PP throughout Lopez's

full four-year term, arguing that it would be political
"suicide" to break their accord (Ref A). Separately, Idoia
Mendia, spokesperson for the Office of the Lehendakari, told
POLOFF "it's true" that the PP and PSE have "nothing in
common" in terms of their social and economic policies, but
their pact serves the Basque Region and is open for other
parties to join. She said the most important thing that has
happened so far under PSE rule is that the public has seen
that the region did not "implode" under non-nationalist rule.
She asserted that the PSE is trying to emphasize dialogue in
its interaction with other parties and the public.

//PP Sees "New Era" in Basque Region//


4. (C) Anton Damborenea, President of the PP in the Basque
province of Vizcaya, and Leopoldo Barreda, spokesperson for
the PP caucus in the regional parliament, were positively
giddy in reflecting on the "night and day difference" in the
political fortunes of the PP Basque wing over the past year.
They assessed that the March elections and the subsequent
PSE-PP pact to form a government have created the "end of an
era" in Basque politics and that the region has entered
"uncharted territory" in which "everything is unwritten."
They said that although some leading conservative opinion
leaders grumbled about PP regional leader Antonio Basagoiti's
pact with the PSE, the PP national party headquarters itself
never objected to the deal. The two PP officials suggested
that the PSE-PP accord would likely hold for the full
legislature but will become strained as the next scheduled
regional election draws closer. The duo also delighted in
saying that the Basque public is "learning that the PNV is
just another party."

//PNV Still Adjusting to Life as An Opposition Party//


5. (C) Offering a different perspective, Inaki Goikeotxeta,
the senior official on foreign policy issues within the
Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) admitted that 2009 has been "a
pretty tough year" and suggested that what has occurred in
the Basque Region has not been an era of change but a change
of era. However, he was adamant that the PNV did not "lose"
the March 2009 election, as is sometimes reported in the
media. He pointed out that - despite being dislodged from
office for the first time since 1980 - the PNV won the most

MADRID 00001026 002.2 OF 002


seats in the regional parliament and the largest percent of
the popular vote (Ref A). Goikeotxeta said it was "amazing"
that the PSE and PP aligned in a "marriage of convenience"
and asserted that the only thing they accomplished was to
remove the PNV from power. He pointed to a July 2009 poll by
Euskobarometro - the region's most respected polling firm -
that found that 65 percent of respondents had little or no
faith in the Lopez government. He further alleged that the
PSE and PP do not have any policy initiatives beyond the
accord they signed. Goikeotxeta criticized the PSE's efforts
to take down public posters and photos that glorify ETA
members (Ref C),calling this move too provocative for ETA
and some Basque nationalists. He suggested that the PSE's
"cure was worse than the illness" and said that the situation
needs a "prudent, proportional response." He concluded his
evaluation by describing the PSE government as "weak" and
"looking for our (the PNV's) help."

//Thoughts from Observers of Basque Politics//


6. (C) Eduardo Uriarte, Manager of Foundation for Liberty,
says there has been "enormous change" in the Basque Region in
the past year, although it has not happened as the Socialists
envisioned, since it has involved a PSE-PP partnership. He
assessed that "bit by bit" there are "appreciable changes" in
the Basque Region under the Lopez Administration and judged
that the PSE has done well in defending civil rights, in
counter-terrorism initiatives and in supporting victims of
terrorism. Uriarte added that he notes a certain relaxation
in the political atmosphere in the Basque Region these days
and - echoing Mendia - suggested that the public is realizing
that life under PSE rule is not as bad as the Basque
nationalist doomsayers said it would be. He said that for
the first time people are beginning to mix socially with
other people who do not hold the same political views.
Uriarte is a former ETA member who was sentenced to death at
the famous Burgos trial of 1970, received amnesty during
Spain's transition to democracy and later was active in
Basque municipal politics as a Socialist. His NGO lobbies
for peace in the Basque Region, as well as an end to ETA.


7. (C) According to Maite Pagazaurtundua, President of the
Association for Victims of Terrorism, under PSE rule, there
has been a "qualitative jump" in support for victims of
terrorism. She said that under former PNV Lehendakari
(1999-2009) Juan Jose Ibbaretxe, the regional government
provided a bare minimum of support to terrorism victims "to
cover appearances," but was never truly committed to victims'
rights as a political priority. In contrast, Pagazaurtundua
deemed important the Lopez Administration's political will to
make real changes in this area. She also applauded the Lopez
Administration's initial steps to end a sympathetic editorial
slant to ETA in programming on the Basque public television
and radio network.


8. (C) Oscar Beltran, editor of Bilbao-based El Correo
newspaper, offered a "wait and see" approach to the PSE's
initiatives, suggesting that the Lopez Administration was
still in the formative stages and had not accomplished too
much just yet. He pointed out that - broadly speaking -
officials holding the two most senior levels of power have
never been in government before and that officials in the
third and fourth tiers were either appointed by the PNV
during 1980-2009 or have always fulfilled their duties in an
PNV-led environment. Beltran suggested that the PSE fears
their initiatives may be sabotaged from the inside.


9. (C) From his vantage point in Madrid, Ignacio
Sanchez-Cuenca, an ETA and electoral politics expert at the
Juan March Institute, agreed with the notion that most of the
PSE government's accomplishments to date have been symbolic.
He also assessed that - because of weak public support - both
the PSE and PP were under pressure to hide any partisan
differences and make their pact work. Sanchez-Cuenca
acknowledged the PSE's efforts to remove public murals,
slogans and posters glorifying ETA, but noted that the
implementation of that initiative will fall to city halls
throughout the region, where the political will to do so -
especially in rural areas - is not very strong. He also
praised the ascendant career of Basagoiti, whom he said has
accomplished quite a bit in a little more than a year as
President of the PP's Basque wing.
CHACON