Socialist Party of Euskadi - Euskadiko Ezkerra
Encyclopedia
The Socialist Party of the Basque Country – Basque Country Left is the Basque
Basque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....
affiliate of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...
. Although local socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
groups had been active since 1886, and many affiliated with the PSOE (being Biscay
Biscay
Biscay is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lord of Biscay. Its capital city is Bilbao...
one of the strongholds of Spanish socialism, along with Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
and Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
), the PSE was actually established as a branch of the main party only in 1977, during the Spanish transition to democracy
Spanish transition to democracy
The Spanish transition to democracy was the era when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic state. The transition is usually said to have begun with Franco’s death on 20 November 1975, while its completion has been variously said to be marked by the Spanish...
.
It has local associations in Guipúzcoa, Biscay
Biscay
Biscay is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lord of Biscay. Its capital city is Bilbao...
, and Álava
Álava
Álava is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lord of Álava. Its capital city is Vitoria-Gasteiz which is also the capital of the autonomous community...
. Before June 1982, it also included a Navarre
Navarre
Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...
branch - which formed the Socialist Party of Navarre, PSN (PSOE).
Initially in a close alliance with the Euskadiko Ezkerra
Euskadiko Ezkerra
Euskadiko Ezkerra or EE was a Basque socialist political organisation. It was founded as a coalition of Euskal Iraultzarako Alderdia and other Basque Marxist forces in 1977 to present lists for the Spanish general elections in the constituencies of Vizcaya,...
(EE), a party connected with Basque nationalism
Basque nationalism
Basque nationalism is a political movement advocating for either further political autonomy or, chiefly, full independence of the Basque Country in the wider sense...
, begun in 1991 with a move promoted by the respective secretaries - Ramón Jáuregui for the PSE and Mario Onaindia for the EE. It aimed to become the major Basque force in the 1993 election
Spanish general election, 1993
-Results:-External links:*...
. The fusion of the two groups was made possible by the split of Euskal Ezkerra
Euskal Ezkerra
Euskal Ezkerra was a political party in Euskadi, Spain. EuE was formed as break-away from Euskadiko Ezkerra in 1991 when EuE merged with Spanish Socialist Workers' Party....
from EE: prepared by the leadership of Nicolás Redondo Terreros (1998–2002), it was confirmed with the mandate of Patxi López
Patxi López
Francisco Javier López Álvarez is a Spanish socialist politician and the current president of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country...
in 2002.
The PSE-EE is currently the second-largest party in the Basque Autonomous Community, behind the Basque Nationalist Party
Basque Nationalist Party
The Basque National Party is the largest and oldest Basque nationalist party. It is currently the largest political party in the Basque Autonomous Community also with a minor presence in Navarre and a marginal one in the French Basque Country...
(throughout its recent history, it fluctuated between second and third, depending on the success of the People's Party
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...
or the abertzale Left
Batasuna
Batasuna was a Basque nationalist political party based mainly in Spain, where it was outlawed in 2003, after a court ruling declared proven that the party was financing ETA with public money. Batasuna is included in the "European Union list of terrorist persons and organizations" as a component...
).