The Carlist Party of Euskal Herria ( eu, Euskalherriko Karlista Alderdia, es, Partido Carlista de Euskal Herria; EKA), before 2000 known as the Carlist Party of Euskadi, is a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

Carlist Carlism ( eu, Karlismo; ca, Carlisme; ; ) is a Traditionalism (Spain), Traditionalist and Legitimists (disambiguation), Legitimist political movement in Spain aimed at establishing an alternative branch of the House of Bourbon, Bourbon dynasty ...

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

with presence in the

Spanish Basque Country The Basque Country (; eu, Euskadi ; es, País Vasco ), also called Basque Autonomous Community ( eu, Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoa, links=no, EAE; es, Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco, links=no, CAPV), is an autonomous community of Spain. It ...

. The party was historically part of the pro-Carlos Hugo wing of the Carlist movement. The party was not legalized until late 1977.

Organization and ideology

The EKA defines itself as a federation of the Carlist parties of each of the four Basque provinces (

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

Álava Álava ( in Spanish) or Araba (), officially Araba/Álava, is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Álava, former medieval Catholic bishopric and now Latin titular see. Its ca ...

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

and

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

), each of them fully autonomous in their respective territories. At the state level, the EKA is confederated with the Carlist Party of Spain (or the Spains according to the traditional terminology of the movement), one of the parties that claims to be the direct heir of the historic Carlist movement. The party has an official magazine, ''

Montejurra Montejurra in Spanish and Jurramendi in Basque are the names of a mountain in Navarre region (Spain). Each year, it hosts a Carlist celebration in remembrance of the 1873 Battle of Montejurra during the Third Carlist War. In 2004, approximately 1 ...

'', which it is also the name of the

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

where they celebrate their annual feast. After the general assembly of October 2008, the party appointed José Maria Porro Saínz (ex-militant of the Grupos de Acción Carlista and one of the leaders of

Unión Sindical Obrera The Unión Sindical Obrera (USO) is a Spanish trade union. Founded as a clandestine organization in 1961—during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco—the union was an outgrowth of Roman Catholic organizations dedicated to Catholic soci ...

in Navarre) as its secretary general and Feliciano Vélez (who after the municipal elections of 2007, was elected mayor of the Navarrese town of

Puente la Reina Puente la Reina (Spanish meaning literally the "bridge of the Queen"; eu, Gares) is a town and municipality located in the autonomous community of Navarre, in northern Spain. Puente la Reina lies between Pamplona and Estella on the Way of St. ...

in the lists of the Agrupación Electoral Puentesina) as organization secretary. Ideologically, the party defends a model of

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

based in

workers' self-management Workers' self-management, also referred to as labor management and organizational self-management, is a form of organizational management based on self-directed work processes on the part of an organization's workforce. Self-management is a def ...

inspired by Yugoslav socialism and a federal

Euskal Herria The Basque Country ( eu, Euskal Herria; es, País Vasco; french: Pays basque) is the name given to the home of the Basque people. Trask, R.L. ''The History of Basque'' Routledge: 1997 The Basque country is located in the western Pyrenees, str ...

in a

confederal A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

History

The EKA was one of the organizers of the 1976

Aberri Eguna Aberri Eguna ("Fatherland Day") is a celebration day and set of meetings coinciding with Easter Sunday organized mainly by the Basque nationalist movement. It was first organised by the Basque Nationalist Party on 27 March 1932 in Bilbao, then c ...

in collaboration with the various parties of the Basque independentist left (including ETA(m), ETA(pm), EHAS and

LAIA Laia may refer to: People * Laia (given name), including a list of people * Francisca Laia (born 1994), Portuguese sprint canoeist * Bu Laia, Hawaiian comedian Shawn Kaui Hill * Laia people, an indigenous Australian people of the state of Quee ...

) and the Spanish revolutionary left ( MC, LCR and ORT). In February 1977, the party participated in the creation of the ''Euskal Erakunde Herritarra''. Initially, the ''Frente Obrero'' was linked to the

Workers' Commissions The Workers' Commissions ( es, Comisiones Obreras, CCOO) since the 1970s has become the largest trade union in Spain. It has more than one million members, and is the most successful union in labor elections, competing with the Unión General de ...

, but due to the influence of the

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain ( es, Partido Comunista de España; PCE) is a Marxist-Leninist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is part of Unidas Podemos. It currently has two of its politicians serving as ...

(PCE) in them the EKA eventually opted for the

, with which it shared common aspirations regarding

self-management socialism Socialist self-management or self-governing socialism was a form of workers' self-management used as a social and economic model formulated by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. It was instituted by law in 1950 and lasted in the Socialist Federa ...

as its social project. In April 1977, 150 EKA members occupied the Diputación of Navarre in protest against the violation of

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

by the

Spanish state Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spani ...

. The same year, the government denied the legalization of the party that presented a list to the

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

called ''Agrupación Montejurra''. The position of the party in the constitutional referendum of 1978 generated an intense and complicated internal debate. Finally, the party asked for an affirmative vote, but they lost a relevant number of members due to this decision. During the 1990s, its secretary general was the lawyer Jose Angel Navarro Pérez-Nievas. In 1996, the party published a

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

manifest calling for both the end of ETA and repression. In 1998, it signed the Pact of Estella.

Institutional presence

Until 1987, the EKA had about ten councilors in the town councils of several medium-sized urban areas like Tolosa (

) or

Sangüesa Sangüesa (Basque: ''Zangoza'') is a city in Navarre, Spain, 44.5 kilometers from Pamplona. It lies close to the River Aragon and in 2007 had a population of 5,128. It is located on the Way of Saint James. It has been an important stopping poin ...

(Navarre).Elecciones Municipales en Euskadi y Navarra 1979-2015
/ref> In smaller rural towns, the party always supported or created diverse local platforms, like ''Agrupación Electoral Puentesina'' in

(Navarre). In the local elections of 2003, the following Navarrese carlists were elected as councilors: Gerardo Montoya ( Noain), Feliciano Vélez and Aurelio Laita ( Puente La Reina – Gares), J. Joaquín Urra ( Artajona - Artaxoa), Federico Salcedo (

Andosilla Andosilla is a town in the province and autonomous community of Navarra, northern Spain. Demography Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) id:barra value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.9) ImageSize ...

), Cruz Barandalla and Roberto Beruete ( Zirauki) and Carlos García ( Tabar). The only institutional representation the party ever got other than local representatives was a Navarrese member of parliament (Mariano Zufía Urrizalqui) in 1979–1983.

References

{{reflist Socialist parties in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Basque nationalism Carlism 1974 establishments in Spain Political parties established in 1974 Political parties in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Political parties in Navarre Left-wing nationalist parties