Spain's next government wants to block Basque separatists

Despite the Basque separatist group's renunciation of violence in October, ETA is denied of forming a parliamentary group in Spain's new centre-right ruling government

Spain's incoming centre-right government is trying to limit the powers of new Basque separatist members of parliament by preventing them from forming a parliamentary group, El Mundo newspaper said on Wednesday citing People's Party (PP) sources.
The PP, which will form a government around 20 December, has opposed the legalisation of the Basque separatist coalition Amaiur as it believes it is too closely linked to ETA, which in October called an end to its four-decade armed struggle.
A political party has greater state funding, more members on committees, more chance to propose laws and amend them and more access to classified information if it can form a parliamentary group than if its members have to join the mixed group of small parties.
No one from the PP was immediately available for comment.
The strict interpretation of the rules limiting parliamentary groups proposed by the PP would also prevent another minority party, the anti-regionalist UPyD, from forming a group, the right-leaning El Mundo reported.
Spain has 17 autonomous regions that have extensive control over their own finances. Some, such as the Basque country and Catalonia have distinctive cultures and their own languages.
ETA announced a permanent end to its armed struggle for a Basque homeland on 20 October after four decades of bombings and shootings which killed more than 800 people.
The left-wing coalition Amaiur won seven seats in Spain's parliament at the 20 November election and was the second most voted for party in the Basque country.
Amaiur includes an array of separatist parties and politicians, some of whom the PP considers have not gone far enough in condemning the violent acts of ETA, which directed attacks on PP representatives among other targets.
Political parties must have 15 members of parliament or 15 percent of the votes in the districts where they fielded candidates or 5 percent of the total votes cast in the election to be allowed to form a parliamentary group.
Amaiur obtained 14.86 percent of votes cast in the Basque country's neighbouring region of Navarra, which a strict interpretation of the law could deny it a parliamentary group.
Anti-regionalist centrist party UPyD obtained just short of 5 percent of votes cast nationally and could be denied a parliamentary group on the same grounds, El Mundo said.