VITORIA, Spain (AFP) — The Basque parliament on Friday approved a plan for a regional referendum on self-determination, setting the stage for a confrontation with the government in Madrid which has condemned the poll as illegal.
The parliament voted by a narrow majority of 34 votes to 33 to hold the October 25 poll, the first part of a proposed "road map" for new political relations between the northern region and Madrid.
The plan envisages the recognition by Madrid of the right of self-determination for the Basque people, a demand of the armed separatist group ETA, blamed for the deaths of 823 people in its 40-year campaign for an independent Basque homeland.
"I am pleased to present this bill, which responds to the noble aims of achieving peace and a political accord," the head of the Basque government, Juan Jose Ibarretxe, told the parliament in the Basque Country.
"To give a voice to the (Basque) people, to hear their opinion and to act on it, is not only a politically responsible act but it is the function of a normal democratic government," he said, defending his government against critics of the plan.
His three-party nationalist coalition backed the plan, but its 33 votes were not enough to pass it, and the government was forced to rely on one vote from the separatist PCTV party, which is close to ETA's political wing, Batasuna.
Ibarretxe first announced the plan after ETA formally called off a 15-month-old ceasefire in June 2007.
But the Socialist government in Madrid has repeatedly rejected the referendum as illegal, and vowed to take the issue before the Constitutional Court.
Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said Friday the government will approach the Constitutional Court on the same day that the law is officially published.
"It is the government's duty to serve the constitution," she told a news conference. "There is no place for challenges to the norms of democracy."
Last month, Ibarretxe revealed the questions that would be put to voters on October 25.
1: "Do you support a process aimed at negotiating an end to violence if ETA first demonstrates, unequivocally, its will to definitively end violence?"
2: "Do you agree that Basque political parties should begin a process of negotiation to reach an agreement on a democratic accord on the Basque people's exercise of the right of self-determination and that this accord be submitted to a (regional) referendum before the end of 2010?"
Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he would be open to granting more autonomy for the affluent region, which already enjoys a high level of self-government, as long as this respected the constitution and was the result of a broad agreement on the part of Basque political parties.
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