Spain+(Basque)

//Spain//



//** Neighbouring countries **//  //** : **//** Andorra 63.7 km, France 623 km, Gibraltar 1.2 km, Portugal 1,214 km, Morocco (Ceuta) 6.3 km, Morocco (Melilla) 9.6 km **** // Natural resources // ** : ** coal, lignite, iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, uranium, tungsten, mercury, pyrites, magnesite, fluorspar, gypsum, sepiolite, kaolin, potash, hydropower, arable land ** //** Population **// ** : 40,525,002 (July 2009 est.) **** // Official language // ** : ** Castilian Spanish (official) 74%, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque 2%, are official regionally **** // Type of government // ** : ** Parliamentary monarchy **** // Economy // ** :  mixed capitalist economy total population: 97.9% male: 98.7% female: 97.2% (2003 est.) ** //** Religions **////** : **// //** Roman Catholic 94%, other 6% **//   Exports - commodities :** machinery, motor vehicles; foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, medicines, other consumer goods ** //** Imports - commodities: **// ** machinery and equipment, fuels, chemicals, semi-finished goods, foodstuffs, consumer goods, measuring and medical control instruments ** Imports - partners:
 * // Literacy //// : // // age 15 and over can read and write //
 * Exports - partners: **
 * France 18.8%, Germany 10.8%, Portugal 8.6%, Italy 8.5%, UK 7.6%, US 4.2% (2007) **
 * Germany 15.7%, France 12.7%, Italy 8.4%, China 5.8%, UK 4.8%, Netherlands 4.6% (2007) **

Timeline: 20th Century || || 1902 ||  Alfonso XIII (1902-1931) - dissolved Regency of Maria Cristina || 1904 ||  Birth of painter Salvador Dalí e Domènch (1904- ????) || 1906 ||  Spain and France given joint control over Morocco || 1909 ||  "Semana Trágica" - Workers revolt against army conscription in Barcelona || 1912 ||  Prime Minister José Canalejas assassinated in Madrid || 1914 ||  Outbreak of 1st World War (1914-1918) and Spain declares neutrality || 1921 ||  Spanish army defeated at Anual in Morocco || 1923 ||  Primo de Rivera comes to power with backing of Alfonso XIII || 1923 ||  Birth of painter Antoni Tàpies || 1927 ||  Spain defeats Berbers at Alhucemas in Morocco || 1929 ||  International Exhibitions at Barcelona and Seville || 1930 ||  Primo de Rivera resigns || 1931 ||  Republicans win election causing Alfonso XIII to abdicate || 1931 ||  Pact of San Sebastian and Declaration of 2nd Republic of Spain (1931-1939) || 1933 ||  General election places power back in right-wing political parties || 1934 ||  Revolt by miners in Asturias suppressed by General Franco || 1936 ||  Republican Popular Front wins election on 16th January || 1936 ||  Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) starts on 17th of July || 1936 ||  General Franco declared Head of State on 26th of September || 1937 ||  German planes bomb in April the Basque town of Guernica || 1938 ||  Republicans defeated in battle for Teruel || 1938 ||  Nationalists bomb Barcelona || 1939 ||  Nationalists take Madrid, Valencia and Alicante || 1939 ||  General Franco declares end of Civil War on 1st of April || 1939 ||  Law of "Political Responsibilities" introduced || 1914 ||  Outbreak of 2nd World War (1939-1945) and Spain declares neutrality || 1940 ||  Hitler meets with General Franco at Hendaye || 1945 ||  End of World War II and Spain is politically unaccepted by rest of Europe || 1947 ||  Francisco Franco appointed Regent (1947-1975) || 1953 ||  Spain signs co-operation agreement with USA || 1955 ||  Spain is accepted as a member of United Nations || 1956 ||  Spain hands independence to Morocco and loses Ceuta and Melilia || 1959 ||  Founding of separatist Basque movement "ETA" || 1962 ||  Spain's application for EC membership rejected || 1962 ||  Prince Juan Carlos marries Princess Sofia of Greece || 1962 ||  Tourism becomes an a serious new income for Spain || 1968 ||  Spain grants independence to Equatorial Guinea || 1969 ||  Prince Juan Carlos named as Crown Price and successor after General Franco || 1969 ||  Border access between Spain and Gibraltar closed by Franco || 1970 ||  "Burgos Trials" - opponents of Franco regime placed on trial || 1973 ||  ETA assassinates Admiral Carrero Blanco  || 1975 ||  Juan Carlos I (1975-) - return of House of Bourbon upon death of General Franco || 1975 ||  Spain and USA sign agreement for military USA basis on Spanish soil || 1975 ||  Languages of Cátalan, Basque and Galicia are official languages of Spain || 1976 ||  Spain cedes Western Sahara to Morocco and Mauretania || 1977 ||  Communist Party is legalized || 1977 ||  Free elections brings UDC Party and Adólfo Suárez with a centralist government || 1978 ||  New Democratic Constitution introduced || 1980 ||  Spain becomes member of NATO || 1980 ||  Catalonia and Basque regions become legally autonomous || 1981 ||  Adólfo Suárez resigns and succeeded by Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo || 1981 ||  Military officers led by Colonel Antonio Tejero stage unsuccessful coup || 1982 ||  New elections brings PSOE Party to power led by Felipe González || 1983 ||  Semi-autonomous 17 regional governments established || 1986 ||  Election brings back Socialist Workers Party under Felipe González || 1986 ||  Spain joins European Community (later changed to European Union) and NATO || 1989 ||  Spain holds rotating Presidency of EC for first time || 1991 ||  Madrid hosts Bush-Gorbachev Summit || 1992 ||  Barcelona Summer Olympics || 1992 ||  Expo 92 -International Exposition in Seville || 1993 ||  Felipe González wins third term in office || 1994 ||  Scandals in government begin to sway public away from González || 1996 ||  Election won by Partido Popular and a coalition led by Jose Maria Aznar || 1998 ||  ETA announces a ceasefire ||

 **Leader of the ** **Basque ** **: **   **URKULLU ** 2. The PP won a plurality in the elections of 1996 and formed a government with the support of Basque and Catalan nationalist parties. The PSOE assumed leadership of the opposition. By 2000 the PP controlled the majority of provincial and autonomous governments, and in that year it solidified its position by winning an absolute majority in the Cortes. In March 2004, however, following a series of terrorist bombings in Madrid—originally attributed by the government to the Basque separatist group ****[|**ETA**] but subsequently linked to ****Islamic militants—the PSOE ousted the PP from national government. In 2008 the PSOE government won a second term. **
 * <span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">1. ****<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: #d21414; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Leader of the ****<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: #d21414; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Spanish ****<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: #d21414; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">government: ZAPATERO **<span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #d21414; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #333333; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">
 * <span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: #333333; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Belonging to ****<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: #0007ff; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Spanish Socialists Workers' Party ****<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: #333333; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">(Partido Socialista **<span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #333333; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> **<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: #333333; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Obrero Españo,PSOE) **<span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">
 * <span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Belonging to ****<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: #0042ff; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Basque Nationalist Party or PNV or EAJ  **<span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">
 * <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #333333; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">


 * <span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">3. Political ideology: Socialist **


 * __ Current issues: __**


 * 1. **** The main issue: Basque fighting for independence ** [[image:412-dailyedit0215_28_standalone_prod_affiliate_138.jpg width="522" height="405" align="right" caption="The protest of Basque people fighting for autonomy.Independence supporters throw ballots of the outlawed radical Basque party Democracy 3 Million or D3M in Bilbao northern Spain Saturday Feb. 14, 2009. The Spanish government has ordered the General Attorney to outlaw D3M, accusing it of being the new political wing of the violent armed Basque group ETA. Spain's troubled Basque territory is to hold regional parliament elections March 1. "]]
 * They are People who live in both Spain and France in areas bordering the Bay of BascayBascay and encompassing the western foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains . In the late 20th century probably about 850,000 true Basques lived in Spain and 130,000 in France; as many as 170,000 Basques may live in emigrant communities outside Europe, mostly in South Africa and the United States. In Spain their home is the //comunidad autónoma// (“autonomous community”) of the Basque Country, which includes the //provinces// of Álava, Guipúzcoa, and Vizcaya (Biscay); there are also some Basques in Navarra (Navarre ).

After the death of Franco and especially after the establishment of the liberal Spanish monarchy in 1975, the Basque s engaged in vigorous demonstrations for local autonomy, which the Spanish government granted in some measure in 1978–79. The increased freedoms and home rule, however, did not satisfy the more militant separatists, such as the hard-line “military” wing of the Euzkadi Ta Azkatasuna ETA Basque for “ Basque Homeland and Liberty”), a terrorist liberation organization seeking Basque self-determination and secession from Spain. The Basque s thus continued on an unsettled course in their relations with the dominant Spaniards . Source: ** International Response:  ** International support for a serious, inclusive peace process — in which the Spanish and French states acknowledge the Basque people’s democratic and national rights — is now more important than ever.
 * With the conquest (1512) of Navarre by Ferdinand the Catholic, the Basques lost their last independent stronghold. After the 16th cent., Basque prosperity declined and emigration became common, especially in the 19th cent. Basque privileges remained in force under the Spanish monarchy, but in 1873 they were abolished because of the Basques' pro-Carlist stand in the Carlist Wars. To regain autonomy, the Basques supported nearly every political movement directed against the central authority. ****


 * 2. ****<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: red; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Disputes – international **
 * In 2002, Gibraltar residents voted overwhelmingly by referendum to remain a British colony and against a "total shared sovereignty" arrangement while demanding participation in talks between the UK and Spain; Spain disapproves of UK plans to grant Gibraltar greater autonomy; Morocco protests Spain's control over the coastal enclaves of Ceuta, Melilla, and the islands of Penon de Velez de la Gomera, Penon de Alhucemas, and Islas Chafarinas, and surrounding waters; Morocco serves as the primary launching site of illegal migration into Spain from North Africa; Portugal does not recognize Spanish sovereignty over the territory of Olivenza based on a difference of interpretation of the 1815 Congress of Vienna and the 1801 Treaty of Badajoz. ****

3 ****<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: red; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">. Illicit drugs **<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> crime.
 * Despite rigorous law enforcement efforts, North African, Latin American, Galician, and other European traffickers take advantage of Spain's long coastline to land large shipments of cocaine and hashish for distribution to the European market; consumer for Latin American cocaine and North African hashish; destination and minor transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin; money-laundering site for Colombian narcotics trafficking organizations and organized **

<span style="font-size: 16pt; color: #dd0e0e; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">International relations: <span style="font-size: 16pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Besides Venezuela, the Spanish government has strongly increased its relations in recent years with Brazil, Argentina and Chile. A diplomatic crisis with Bolivia in 2005 due to a misunderstanding was quickly resolved by Zapatero and Spain became the first European country visited by Evo Morales in January 4, 2006. However, there remain problems surrounding the exploitation of oil and gas fields in the country by Spanish corporations like Repsol. <span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Thus, Spain has a very good reputation in the world.
 * <span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">With ****<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: red; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">France ****<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">: **<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Spain has very good relations with France, especially since
 * With ** **<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: red; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Germany ****<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">: **<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Spain has very good relations with Germany, especially since
 * With ** **<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: red; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Portugal ****<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">: **<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Relations between Portugal and Spain are also good. They cooperate in the fight against drug trafficking and tackling forest fires (common in the Iberian Peninsula in summers), for example. These close relations are facilitated by similar governments: the government of conservative Spanish PM José María Aznar coincided with the government of also conservative José Manuel Durão Barroso in Portugal; today, both José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of Spain and José Sócrates of Portugal are socialists. Portugal also holds claim to the disputed territory of Olivença in the Portuguese-Spanish border. <span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">
 * <span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">With ****<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: red; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">United States ****<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">: **<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Under the government of José María Aznar, Spain developed exceptionally good relations with the USA, in great part due to the personal empathy between Aznar and George W. Bush. Following Zapatero's decision to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq immediately after the 2004 general elections, relations predictably soured, although important commercial links remained intact.
 * With ** **<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: red; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Latin American countries ****<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">: **<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> During Aznar's government, Spanish relations with some Latin-American countries like Mexico, Venezuela and Cuba got worse, but were exceptionally good with others like Colombia, Dominican Republic and several Central America small republics. Zapatero's victory in the 2004 general elections changed this setting. Today, relations with Venezuela are quite good, which has caused an upset with the United States, who have been in recent conflicts with Venezuela via both countries presidents and Venezuelas growing relations with "Anti-American Nations", such as Cuba, China, and several other nations including Russia and Islamic Middle Eastern countries. Relations with Cuba have historically been better.
 * <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">March 14, 2004, when Zapatero was elected Spanish Prime Minister. The Prime Minister's relationship with the present Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is less close but remains civil. March 14, 2004, when Zapatero was elected Prime Minister of Spain. One of his objectives is maintaining and strengthening good relations with the **//**<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">European Friends **//**<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">. The police of Spain and France are now cooperating to suppress the terrorist group ETA **<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Adobe Garamond Pro Bold'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">.