Batasuna party dissolves

BASQUE separatist party Batasuna announced in January that it has formally dissolved its structures.

The announcement was made at a press conference in the city of Bayonne in the French-ruled north of the Basque Country. The party has remained legal there despite being outlawed by Spain in 2003 who claimed it was a “component” of  armed separatist group Euskadi ta Askatasuna (ETA).

The announcement came three months after Euskal Herria Bildu, a new coalition of pro-independence and left-wing activists, pulled off a stunning electoral performance in Basque parliamentary elections. The party shocked the Spanish state by gaining 25% of the vote and coming in just six seats behind the ruling centre-right Basque National Party (PNV).

Bildu was initially banned by the Spanish courts (who considered it the successor to Batasuna) but the ruling was later overturned.