Farewell to the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom - The Political map of Europe faces changes

Farewell to the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom - The Political map of Europe faces changes

Basque Country - independence referendum likely

A Basque Government referendum Bill was placed before the Basque

Government on 29th May, 2008, that could be the first step towards the

Basque Country voting for independence from the Spanish state in 2010.

In a move that marks the beginning of what could possibly be the firstof several referendums on

independence over the coming years in WesternEurope, including one in Scotland, the Basque

Prime Minister, Juan Jose Ibarretxe, presented the Bill to the Basque Parliament

PresidentIzaskun Bilbao. The formal presentation took place before the BasqueParliament in

Gasteiz/Vitoria and the wording of the Bill is planned to be debated in the Parliament on 27th

June 2008 and no corrections will be allowed.

If agreed, the Bill will be put to popular vote on October 25th 2008 and Ibarretxe has stated that

he expects the BasqueParliament to give the Bill their total support. However, the Spanish

Socialist Government in Madrid, headed by Spain'sPrime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez

Zapatero, has said that it willseek a court order to prevent the vote going ahead if the Bill

isapproved on 27th June. Ibarretxe's decision to propose the Bill comesafter negotiations

between Zapatero and Ibarretxe broke down overthe last couple of weeks, with Ibarretxe

stating that the Spanish PM did not want to negotiate with the Basque institutions. Ibarretxe

said in a statement:"We want to have the right to decide and the right to live together in peace."

Referendums on independence are also planned for Scotland in 2010and in Catalunya on 2014.The

political map of Europe has seen much change in recent years with the break up of

Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic,the crumbling of the former

Yugoslavia into smaller states including Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and so on and the newly

emergent nations following the collapseof the Soviet Union. Many might view this process with

sadness but former countries which were combined have go on to prove themselves very able to

manage their own affairs as in the case of Sweden and Norway which were united until 1905.

These nations have never looked back so bringing a sense of inevitability to the process and an

ever closer step to a 'Europe of 100 nations' forseen in an early European Union document.

And we at the Celtic Warrior say - Vote 'yes' for freedom from the Imperialist and Colonialist States wherever they be !