''Abertzaleen Batasuna'' (AB; en, Patriot's Union or Unity) is a

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 ...

in France.

Ideology

It is the largest Basque nationalist party of the

French Basque Country The French Basque Country, or Northern Basque Country ( eu, Iparralde (), french: Pays basque, es, País Vasco francés) is a region lying on the west of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Since 1 January 2017, it constitu ...

gathering around 10% of the votes in this territory. Its immediate goal is the establishment of a ''

Pays Basque The French Basque Country, or Northern Basque Country ( eu, Iparralde (), french: Pays basque, es, País Vasco francés) is a region lying on the west of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Since 1 January 2017, it constitu ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

out of

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; eu, Pirinio Atlantiarrak or ) is a department in the southwest corner of France and of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Pyrenees mountain range and the Atlanti ...

. In terms of ideology, besides Basque nationalist, it is a

leftist 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 ...

political party.

History

It was founded as an electoral platform and in 2001 it was redesigned as a political party. In 2001, members of AB who desired a stronger link to Southern Basques left to form the Northern branch of

Batasuna Batasuna (; en, Unity) was a Basque nationalist political party. Based mainly in Spain, it was banned in 2003, after a court ruling declared proven that the party was financing ETA with public money. The party is included in the "European Unio ...

, a different party with a similar ideology which is now illegal in Spain. AB neither justifies nor condemns the violence of

ETA Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...

, calling instead for a truce. ETA has scolded'' El Mundo''
ETA arremete contra los escindidos de EH
4 April 2002. AB for this lack of support from what is seen as a friendly organization. The opinion newspaper most related to AB is '' Enbata''.

References

2001 establishments in France Basque nationalism Left-wing nationalist parties Nationalist parties in France Political parties established in 2001 Political parties in Northern Basque Country Secessionist organizations in Europe Separatism in France Socialist parties in France {{France-party-stub

Ideology

History

See also

References