Politics
While there is no independent Basque state, Spain's autonomous community of the Basque Country, made up of the provinces of Álava (Araba), Vizcaya (Bizkaia) and Guipúzcoa (Gipuzkoa), is primarily a historical consequence and an answer to the wide autonomy claim of the residents.
Navarre has a separate statute of autonomy, also based on the historical medieval charters. Until recently, Basque only survived in the Northern part of Navarre in the areas designated as Basque speaking or mixed in Navarrese law. Questions of political, linguistic and ethnic allegiance and identity are highly complex in Navarre. Politically some Basque nationalists would like to integrate with the Autonomous Basque Community but this currently is not the view of the majority of the people of Navarre.
The Northern Basque Country today does not exist as a formal political entity and is officially simply part of the French department of Pyrénées Atlantiques, centered in Béarn. In recent years the number of mayors of the region supporting the creation of a separate Basque department has grown to 63,87%. So far, their attempts have been unsuccessful.
Read more about this topic: Basque People
Famous quotes containing the word politics:
“The average Kentuckian may appear a bit confused in his knowledge of history, but he is firmly certain about current politics. Kentucky cannot claim first place in political importance, but it tops the list in its keen enjoyment of politics for its own sake. It takes the average Kentuckian only a matter of moments to dispose of the weather and personal helath, but he never tires of a political discussion.”
—For the State of Kentucky, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Writing is the continuation of politics by other means.”
—Philippe Sollers (b. 1936)
“Every two years the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country—and then declares itself puzzled that America has lost trust in its politicians.”
—Charles Krauthammer (b. 1950)