Batasuna MEP defiant over banned party

Date: 05/09/02

By Martin Banks

BASQUE nationalist MEP Koldo Gorostiaga has rejected moves by the Spanish Parliament and courts to outlaw Batasuna, declaring that the party will 'never be silenced'.

Gorostiaga, the only representative of the party in the European Parliament, said he would continue to fight for an independent Basque state.

Baltazar Garzón, Spain's leading judge, ordered the suspension of all Batasuna's political activities and closure of its offices on 26 August because of its links with ETA, the outlawed Basque paramilitary group.

However, the order does not apply to Gorostiaga and other elected representatives.

The MEP told European Voice: 'The day when they suspended the party and closed our offices was a sad day for democracy, but they cannot silence us. The decision shocked me and, to some extent, it will hinder the work I can do as an MEP. But, as the party's sole voice in the European Parliament, I am determined to speak out for the rights of Basque people.

'We represent the goal of independence for the Basque country, for peace and for freedom. We will continue to fight despite the fact that our headquarters have been closed.

'They can close our offices and ban our meetings but they can't silence us.'

Batasuna has vowed to fight the ruling through the Spanish courts and, if necessary, at appeal in the European Court of Justice.

Legal moves to ban Batasuna were backed by an 88 majority in the Spanish government.

The party is accused of providing members, material and technical assistance to ETA, responsible for the deaths of 836 people and injuries to 2,367 during its 27-year campaign.

Gorostiaga, a former law lecturer, maintains that the party is not a political front for ETA. 'There is absolutely no evidence of this. I utterly condemn all violence but the only connection between ETA and Batasuna is that we both want independence for the Basque region.'

Meanwhile, Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio has rebutted criticism that the legal and constitutional moves to outlaw Batasuna could worsen the situation. In a newspaper article this week, she stated: 'Let us be quite clear. What has been outlawed is not a political ideology but a terrorist group that seeks to use the institutions for legitimacy.

'Batasuna is not an ordinary political party but an essential component of the ETA network. On the financial level, funds flow back and forth between ETA and Batasuna. On the political front, Batasuna provides ETA with free election air time.

'Batasuna uses the guise of a political party for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the privileges granted to political parties by the democratic system...as a result democracy in the Basque country is rendered meaningless.'

Historically, Batasuna takes 10 to 20 of the Basque vote. The regional government is controlled by the moderate Basque Nationalist Party, which claims banning its radical sister will not bring about peace.

• In May, two of Gorostiaga's party colleagues were arrested near the Franco-Belgian border with €200,000 withdrawn from his Brussels bank account.

Gorostiaga told Parliament's secretary-general Julian Priestley that he had authorised the withdrawal and that the money came from his European Parliament salary and expenses.

Basque nationalist MEP Koldo Gorostiaga has rejected moves by the Spanish Parliament and courts to outlaw Batasuna, declaring that the party will 'never be silenced'.