Support for independence reaches historic low in Spain’s Basque Country
SUPPORT for breaking away from Spain has fallen to a historic low in the Basque Country which went through a forty year armed conflict over the issue of independence, according to a survey.
Only 21% of respondents in a survey for El último Sociómetro del Gobierno vasco in a survey for the Basque regional government said they supported secession.
Meanwhile, some 41% said they opposed separatism, the highest figure since 1998 when the polls by the regional government began.
The Basque separatist organisation Eta declared a ceasefire in 2011 after a forty year armed conflict in which 829 people lost their lives.
In 2014, some 30% of Basques said they supported independence, the highest level of support for forming a new state.
The latest study shows a seven point rise in the percentage of Basques who say they opposed independence.
In a 2019 poll, 34% of people said they were against splitting from Spain.
The survey of 3,333 people was carried out between 17 and 21 May.
It also found that 40% of people feel as Basque as Spanish, a rise of eight points compared with a previous survey two years ago.
The number of people who feel solely Basque was 19% compared with 24% in 2019. Meanwhile, some 25% feel more Basque than Spanish.
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