THE COUNTRY OF THE BASQUES

Euskadi or Euskal Herria is the country of the Basque people. A nation with ancestral roots and with its own culture and language: Euskera or Basque.

It consists of seven territories, which are located in three political-administrative units: the Basque Autonomous Community and the Autonomous Community of Navarre are situated in the Spanish State, whereas the third, known as Iparralde, is in the Atlantic Pyrenees Department of the French State.

THE BASQUE AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY

The Basque Autonomous Community is a political-administrative unit composed of three historical territories: Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa.


THE BASQUE PARLIAMENT AND GOVERNMENT

The Basque Autonomous Community has its own Parliament, composed of an equal number of representatives for each Historical Territory (25), elected each four years by universal free direct suffrage by secret ballot.

The Lehendakari or President of the Basque Government is chosen from among the elected members. The Basque Government acts in those powers assigned to it by the Gernika Statute of Autonomy. Both institutions -Basque Parliament and Government- have their official headquarters in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

THE FORAL (TERRITORIAL) INSTITUTIONS

Each of the Historical Territories has its own General Assemblies, which act as their parliament and are their maximum body of popular representation and participation. The executive body of each Territory is the Diputación Foral or Regional Government (Alava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa), which is responsible for the powers established in the Historical Territories Act (fiscal and financial policy, social welfare, roads, agriculture...).

INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK OF THE BASQUE AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY

Organisation of the Basque Autonomous Community