Spanish flag flies outside Basque parliament

MADRID – Bowing to a Supreme Court order, the authorities in Spain’s separatist-minded Basque region on Thursday hoisted the Spanish flag outside the Basque parliament in Vitoria.

Without ceremony, the red and yellow national flag was raised alongside that of the Basque region and the European Union near the main entrance to the regional parliament building in the centre of the Basque capital.

It marked the first time that all three flags were "permanently" raised outside the building, a spokeswoman for the Basque parliament told AFP.

Spain’s Supreme Court ruled in November that the Basque parliament had to display the Spanish flag next to the red, white and green Basque flag. It argued that the law requires the flag to be displayed at all public buildings.

But the Basque parliament, dominated by the moderately nationalist Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) which faces regional elections on 1 March, had argued that the parliament building had no mast and had never displayed any flags.

The Basque flag was created in the 19th century by the founders of the PNV, and it is much more commonly seen in the Basque region that its Spanish counterpart.

[AFP / Expatica]