La accion exterior de la Comunidad Autónoma Vasca en el marco del Estatuto de Gernika (1979)

Abstract

The first part of this piece analyses the evolution that the legal framework defining Basque autonomous institutions’ foreign action has undergone over the last four decades. A key milestone in this evolution was the ruling issued by the Spanish Constitutional Court in the dispute over the Basque Delegation in Brussels. Said ruling marked a turning point in the high court’s position regarding the ability of autonomous communities to cast their activities beyond the Spanish State’s borders. Although it has subsequently been subject to subtle modifications, its essential assumptions are still fully valid. The second part of this text reviews the activities carried out by the Basque Country in the aforementioned context. This review shows that, at the paradiplomatic level (corresponding to a subnational entity), Basque institutional foreign action extends to virtually all areas in which a sovereign and independent State operates, with the exception of those related to security and defence.