THE POLITICAL SITUATION in the Basque country in Northern Spain is heating up:

As the European Union expands its borders, one of its largest member states, Spain, may be beginning to unravel.

Under the 1978 constitution, Spain's 17 autonomous communities enjoy more powers of self-government than anywhere in Europe. The Basque Autonomous Community of Euskadi has the greatest autonomy, with its own premier, legislature, police force and Supreme Court and control over housing, education, health, social services and some taxation.

And yet the separatist impulse remains high.

On Monday, the Basque regional parliament's Institutional Commission approved a plan for even greater autonomy, which some analysts believe may lead to the Basque country's independence from Spain.

The plan still has to be passed by the Basque Parliament on December 30. However, the surprise decision by Sozialista Abertzaleak, widely acknowledged as the political wing of the militant separatist group ETA, to abstain from voting means the proposal's passage is all but certain.

As a result, an unprecedented political and constitutional crisis now looms.

The central pillar of the proposal, known as the Ibarretxe Plan after Basque Premier Juan Jose Ibarretxe, is a Basque Community "freely associated" with Spain on the basis of "shared sovereignty". As well as introducing joint Spanish and Basque citizenship, the plan provides for an independent Basque judiciary, diplomatic representation abroad, the right to call referendums on issues of self-determination and almost complete administrative control over the Basque country.
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Critics of the plan condemn the Basque Government for adopting by stealth ETA's aims of independence. Indeed, Sozialista Abertzaleak leader Arnaldo Otegi has claimed that the "best bits of the plan are those that have been copied from us".