Modern Euskadi

The term "Euskadi" is a neologism used by modern-day Basques to describe the Basque Country, in particularly the modern and institutionalized Basque Country. Some Basque nationalists prefer to use the older term "Euskal Herria" to refer to a future Basque nation-state, but even in the ranks of the conservative Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) of Spain "Euskadi" has mostly replaced "Euskal Herria." This shift is symbolic of the Basque people's transition to a fully modern society.

Almost 2.6 million people live in Euskadi, including 2.3 million people in Bascongadas. Definitions of who is and is not "Basque" are in a state of flux -- is a Basque someone who was born to self-identified Basque parents, or is a Basque someone who is a Vascophone? -- but the most reliable estimates suggest that three-fifths of the Basque Country's population can be classified as Basque. Biskaia is by far the most densely populated of the seven Basque provinces, with more than one million inhabitants, and the smaller populations of Gipuzkoa and Lapurdi are equally dense; Araba is the most sparsely populated province. Birth rates, though rising, are still below replacement with an estimated Euskadi-wide fertility rate of 1.91 children born per woman; this birth rate is nonetheless quite high by Spanish national standards.

Euskadi is quite rich -- an estimated 2001 GDP per capita of 54 500 écus places Basque living standards at 110% of the European Confederation average and 120% of the Spanish average. The provinces of Biskaia and Gipuzkoa are very heavily industrialized; Biskaia, and its major city of Bilbo (Spanish Bilbo), is the centre of the Iberian iron industry, using Bascongadas iron and Asturian coal to manufacture such items as railway cars, automotive steel, and iron beams. (In the past quarter-century Biskaia's iron industry has declined owing to foreign competition, but the industry remains vital.) Gipuzkoa's industry is more decentralized and marked by a high prevalence of cooperatives and parapublic corporations that manufacture a wide variety of consumer goods. Araba has an important automobile-manufacturing center at (Gasteiz) Vitoria, giving the province one of the highest percentages of industrial workers in Spain. Tourism is also quite important for Euskadi, with Donostia (San Sebastian) and Baiona (Bayonne) ranking as some of the largest resort cities of Europe's Atlantic coast and significant cultural tourism -- the annual "running of the bulls" in Iruña (Pamplona), brought to world attention in the writings of the American author Ernest Hemingway, attracts tens of thousands of tourists worldwide. For the coastal provinces of Euskadi fishing is a major source of income, while in interior Araba and Nafarroa a Mediterranean climate produces a thriving agriculture possible specializing in wines, olives, potatoes, and cereals. Unemployment, though high by French and European standards, is low by Spanish standards (11% in Euskadi versus 16% in Spain) and is declining. Euskadi's economy, then, is quite diversified; as in the Paisos Catalans, the near-universal fluency of Basques in the French and Spanish languages has allowed Basques to take an active role in the world economy and to enjoy significant economic growth.

The use of Euskara in Euskadi varies. Unlike the New Principality of Catalonia, Bascongadas does not have a firm majority of Vascophones, while in Bayonne Vascophones constitute only a small minority of the total population. To try to compensate for Euskara's relatively weak position the Bascongadas government has passed and enforced a vast array of legislation designed to promote the status of Euskara as much as is possible. Now, in 2001, 53% of Bascongadas schoolchildren are instructed solely in Basque, while Euskara-language immersion programs are attended by another 18%, and many preschool children attend Euskara-language crèches. Basque popular culture is thriving, with an extensive Euskara-language media presence that includes two Euskara-language television channels, various Euskara-language radio stations, an assortment of magazines and weekly and daily newspapers, and (since 1986) even Euskara-language services on the Euronet, and with thriving musical (both traditional-folk and popular) and literary (Bernardo Atxaga's prize-winning novel Obabakoak) environments. The requirements of the language laws that commercial signage and services must be available in Euskara as well as Spanish are commonly accepted, and requirements for Euskara fluency as a prerequisite of government employment have produced a modern Vascophone bureaucracy. The success of Basque is best symbolized by the fact that, perhaps for the first time in Euskara's history, hundreds of thousands of people speak Basque as a second language. In Gipuzkoa and parts of Biskaia and Nafarroa, Euskara is the dominant language in a way that it never was even a generation ago.

This apparent success story is not without its problems. Perhaps the most pressing problem is the fact that in Bayonne, Vascophones are far outnumbered by Francophones. Basque identity remains strong among self-identified Basques, and the ikastolas network has evolved, particularly in the 1990's, into an all-encompassing cultural support system that includes libraries and government offices. Still, there is a very real threat in Bayonne that over the following generations Euskara might disappear as a living language. In Bascongadas, a third of the population lacks fluency in Euskara. This segment -- largely made up of recent Hispanophone immigrants -- is resistant to learning the language, on the grounds that Basque is an isolate and that despite its significant autonomy Bascongadas is still a Spanish territory. Moreover, throughout Euskadi Basque culture is threatened by the tremendous presence of Francophone and Hispanophone global media and business.

Euskadi's future can develop in a variety of ways. Full independence of Bascongadas, never mind the secession of Bayonne and the creation of a Basque nation-state, is exceptionally unlikely, although the PNV does support the Girona Proposals. Many residents of Bascongadas resent the idea of their rich homeland subsidizing a poorer Spanish hinterland, and would like their region to develop a broader international -- and even interdimensional -- presence. The question of immigration into Euskadi is a heated one, with many Basque traditionalists expressing concern at the changes wrought by recent Algerian immigrants and other Basques fearing that new immigrants will not learn Euskara. At the very least, though, the Basques are prepared for these and other trends that will shape their future.