Declaration of the Working Group “International Politics” of the Parliamentary Group of the party DIE LINKE in the German Parliament (Bundestag):
We support the right of the Basque “Abertzale” Left to create a legal framework for its political activities and to participate in the elections on 22 May this year. We therefore welcome the ruling by the Spanish Constitutional Court overturning the judgement by the Supreme Court and allowing the cross-party Basque electoral alliance Bildu to field candidates at the elections. This means that, for the first time in years, the position of the left-wing independence movement will be represented at the elections. In order to allow a peace process, however, the Sortu party must also be legalised.
Since the end of the 1990s, Spain has banned a large number of political, civil-society and even media organisations in the Basque Country, using the excuse that they were subordinate parts of the ETA underground movement. As the legislative framework did not contain adequate provisions to allow such bans, the Spanish Parliament adopted a specially drafted law on political parties in 2002. The law dictates to the parties what political positions they may take.
The Sortu party, formed in January, adheres to the provisions of the law on political parties. Whilst other parties of the Abertzale Left have placed ETA’s violence in the context of the conflict and expressed their regret, Sortu condemns ETA’s violence in a one-sided fashion. Yet, in order to outlaw the party, attempts are being made to present it as part of an ETA strategy.
We reject the use of terrorism for political ends and condemn ETA’s terrorism. At the same time, we condemn the Spanish state’s use of repression and torture, which has been observed, amongst others, by the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT). Both must be ended to finally allow a peaceful political resolution of this decades-old conflict.
ETA’s declaration of a unilateral and permanent ceasefire in January of this year represents a first step in this direction. Legalisation of Sortu would represent a further step. In order to bring a lasting end to violence, a peaceful and democratic resolution of the conflict, achieved through a process of negotiation, is needed. This means that a legal framework for the political participation of the Abertzale Left is vital.
Erklärung auf deutsch: Für das Recht der baskischen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung auf demokratische Teilhabe
Declaración en castellano: Por el derecho del movimiento independentista vasco a la participación democrática