AskBiography Logo   Latest News  Follow Us on Twitter  Follow Us on Google Buzz  Became Fan - Facebook  Subscribe to RSSRSS   Bookmark and Share

Basque Parliament

Background Colorgreen
Text Colorwhite
NameBasque Parliament
Native NameEusko Legebiltzarra
Parlamento Vasco
Coa PicBasque parliament logo.png
Coa Res250px
House TypeUnicameral
Leader1 TypeSpeaker
Leader1Arantza Quiroga Cia
Party1PP
Election1April 3, 2009
Members75
Structure1Basque Parliament standings, 2009.png
Structure1 Res250px
Political Groups1EAJ-PNV, PSE-EE, PP, Aralar, Mixed (EA, EB-B, UPyD)
Voting System1Closed party lists in three 25-seat constituencies, with seats allocated using the D'Hondt method
Last Election1Basque parliamentary election, 2009
Session RoomParlamento Vasco.jpg
Meeting PlaceVitoria-Gasteiz, Álava

     Home | Legislature | Basque Parliament



The Basque Parliament (Basque: Eusko Legebiltzarra, Spanish: Parlamento Vasco) is the legislative body of the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain and the elected assembly to which the Basque Government is responsible.

The Parliament meets in the Basque capital, Vitoria-Gasteiz, although the first session of the modern assembly, as constituted by the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country, was held in Guernica - the symbolic centre of Basque freedoms - on 31 March 1980.

Later in 1980 it started meeting at the premises of the Alavese government.

In 1982, it got its own site in a former high school.

The symbol of the Parliament is an oaken sculpture by Nestor Basterretxea representing a stylized tree, an allusion to the tradition of Basque political assemblies meeting under a tree, as in Guernica.

It is composed of seventy-five deputies representing citizens from the three provinces of the Basque autonomous community. Each province � Álava, Gipuzkoa and Biscay � elects the same number of deputies, despite their having very different levels of population.

This was chosen to earn support from Álava and Navarre, less populated territories where Basque nationalism has less followers.

Navarre did not join the autonomous community though. The elections are held using closed list proportional representation with seats allocated on a Provincial basis using the D'Hondt method of allocation. In order to qualify for seats in a particular province, electoral lists must receive at least 3% of the votes cast in that province including votes "en blanco" i.e. for "none of the above." From 1984 to 2001, the Election threshold was 5% in each province.

Sessions of the Basque Parliament are conducted in both Basque and Spanish, with translation services.

The current Speaker of the Basque Parliament is Arantza Quiroga Cia, who was elected on the PP ticket in 2009. Thanks to an electoral norm aimed at promoting gender equality within the parliament, the ranks of women and men are close (34 to 41), and in the 2005-2009 term women were in the majority (38-37).

Basque Parliament Video

An evangelical couple, Michael Branson and Ketty Sánchez (he is American, she is Spanish), became the first Spanish couple to speak to a legislative assembly in Spain in order to defend their right to home-school their children. The situation occurred at the Basque Parliament.
5.53 min. | 0 user rating
Olle Schmidt MEP (ALDE ADLE Member) - Intervention at the Seminar: Potential economic models to tackle the current crisis in Europe Event date: Wednesday 13 October 2010 16:30 to 19:00 Location: BE BRUSSELS P4B001 Europe has suffered over the past two years as a result of the economic crisis. Action at a global action is needed to solve the crisis, but we should also make use of all of the knowledge and experiences from regional and local level on how to promote the real economy. Through this we will really give meaning to the idea "think globally, act locally". The purpose of the seminar is to look in detail at the case of the Basque country as told by successful professionals directly involved. The Basque region has resisted the economic crisis more successfully than the rest of Spain. Economic data proves that in the Basque country there is more productivity, less unemployment, more economic activity especially in industry, more evenly distributed wealth distributed than in other Spanish and European regions. In the Basque country for the last 25 years there has been a continued commitment to innovation and industrial diversification. The Basques also have a fiscal autonomy system that rewards responsibility. The leaders of the Basque Country have cooperated closely with the private sector. The Basque Country has the largest social economy in the world. [SPEV] [MEP Speech in Event] [Video Statement] [Video] [Seminar] [Language EN] 101013-ALDEADLE-MEP-SPEECH-IN-EVENT <b>...</b>
10.80 min. | 0 user rating
uropean Elections TV Spot - Basque version # 27
0.53 min. | 5.0 user rating
Video summary of the ALDE ADLE Seminar: Potential economic models to tackle the current crisis in Europe ### Full (Video) Event available here: ow.ly Event date: Wednesday 13 October 2010 16:30 to 19:00 Location: BE BRUSSELS P4B001 Europe has suffered over the past two years as a result of the economic crisis. Action at a global action is needed to solve the crisis, but we should also make use of all of the knowledge and experiences from regional and local level on how to promote the real economy. Through this we will really give meaning to the idea "think globally, act locally". The purpose of the seminar is to look in detail at the case of the Basque country as told by successful professionals directly involved. The Basque region has resisted the economic crisis more successfully than the rest of Spain. Economic data proves that in the Basque country there is more productivity, less unemployment, more economic activity especially in industry, more evenly distributed wealth distributed than in other Spanish and European regions. In the Basque country for the last 25 years there has been a continued commitment to innovation and industrial diversification. The Basques also have a fiscal autonomy system that rewards responsibility. The leaders of the Basque Country have cooperated closely with the private sector. The Basque Country has the largest social economy in the world. ----------------------------------------------- MEP's Concerned: Olle Schmidt, Ramon Tremosa i <b>...</b>
4.07 min. | 0 user rating
ALDE ADLE Seminar (Full Video Event): Potential economic models to tackle the current crisis in Europe Event date: Wednesday 13 October 2010 16:30 to 19:00 Location: BE BRUSSELS P4B001 Europe has suffered over the past two years as a result of the economic crisis. Action at a global action is needed to solve the crisis, but we should also make use of all of the knowledge and experiences from regional and local level on how to promote the real economy. Through this we will really give meaning to the idea "think globally, act locally". The purpose of the seminar is to look in detail at the case of the Basque country as told by successful professionals directly involved. The Basque region has resisted the economic crisis more successfully than the rest of Spain. Economic data proves that in the Basque country there is more productivity, less unemployment, more economic activity especially in industry, more evenly distributed wealth distributed than in other Spanish and European regions. In the Basque country for the last 25 years there has been a continued commitment to innovation and industrial diversification. The Basques also have a fiscal autonomy system that rewards responsibility. The leaders of the Basque Country have cooperated closely with the private sector. The Basque Country has the largest social economy in the world. ----------------------------------------------- MEP's Concerned: Olle Schmidt, Ramon Tremosa i Balcells and Izaskun Bilbao Barandica For more <b>...</b>
155.07 min. | 0 user rating

Latest News : Basque Parliament : Tweet this RSS

Want to Basque Parliament latest news on your twitter account???   sign in with twitter
Basque Parliament     sign in with twitter   ||  Legislature     sign in with twitter   ||  Other     sign in with twitter
Are Basque Terrorists Being Trained in Venezuela? - TIME (blog) Tweet this news
TIME (blog)--"The Venezuelan government is in no way linked to any terrorist organization, especially with the -Basque- group ETA," said Venezuelan ambassador to Spain ... - Date : Tue, 05 Oct 2010 22:51:38 GMT+00:00
Spanish PM Zapatero Closes Deal To Ensure 2011 Budget Passage - Wall Street Journal Tweet this news
Wall Street Journal--Monday's agreement with one of the smaller opposition parties in Spanish -parliament- follows a more important deal Friday with the -Basque- Nationalist Party, ... - Date : Mon, 18 Oct 2010 13:55:07 GMT+00:00
16/10/2010Spain's Zapatero shores up government by deal with Basques - Expatica Spain Tweet this news
Expatica Spain---...- with the Socialist group in -parliament-" that will lead to the full implementation of the statute on -Basque- autonomy, the party said in a statement. ... - Date : Sat, 16 Oct 2010 19:25:11 GMT+00:00
20/10/2010Spanish austerity budget clears first hurdle - Expatica Spain Tweet this news
Expatica Spain---...- in the 350-seat -parliament-. The government had sealed a similar deal on Friday with the -Basque- Nationalist Party, which has six seats in the assembly. ... - Date : Wed, 20 Oct 2010 10:48:07 GMT+00:00
Viva Espana - BBC News Tweet this news
BBC News--But it's not going to end the so-called Catalan problem or the -Basque- problem. I'ma Catalan myself, despite my name. I was born and raised in Barcelona, ... - Date : Tue, 13 Jul 2010 23:42:49 GMT+00:00
United in a bid for devolution - John O'Groat Journal Tweet this news
John O'Groat Journal--Take the World Cup final; we watched snatches on a huge screen in the Plaza Espana in Vitoria, seat of the modern -Basque parliament-. ... - Date : Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:41:02 GMT+00:00
It's how you play the cards - Scottish Left Review Tweet this news
Scottish Left Review--Catalonia and the -Basque- Country for example have had fiscal autonomy for over twenty years but it is questionable whether this has been a “stepping stone” ... - Date : Thu, 22 Jul 2010 10:04:03 GMT+00:00

Basque Country Elections and referendums in the Basque Country

Parliamentary elections1980 * 1984 * 1986 * 1990 * 1994 * 1998 * 2001 * 2005 * 2009
Referendums1979



Privacy | Sitemap | Micra Hosting | USA Yellow Pages