ABSTRACT
The Basque contention was set to abandon exile and the underground, becoming part of a new public struggle for democracy, a struggle that in the Basque territories was closely connected to the claim for self-governance. In the Basque provinces, however, the cheerful melody of the Spanish transition to democracy sounded quite different. The attempt at bringing together the different branches of Basque nationalism and designing a common strategy to be put forward in the new, post-Franco phase of the Basque contention had failed. The primary task for the nion de Centro Democratico-dominated parliament, including one Euskadiko Ezkerra and eight Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) deputies, was the drafting of a new constitution. While the negotiations on the constitution were entering their final stages, the initial decisions regarding the restoration of Basque autonomy, the PNV nationalists’ absolute political priority, had already been taken.
