The Basque Government would like to make a statement this Sunday regarding the process of independence in Kosovo, which constitutes a shining example of how conflicts of identity and belonging can be resolved peacefully and democratically.

Today in Europe, proof has once again been given of how problems can truly be solved through democracy and dialogue, respecting the will of the people.

And indeed, with the exception of Serbia, Russia and Spain, practically all the other European states have accepted the independence of Kosovo as a natural course of events; not the first, but simply the latest example of this kind of process. Over recent decades this way of solving problems and differences has been hotly debated, and has been applied without incident in many different parts of the western world, thus demonstrating once again that this principle serves to channel conflicts of identity and belonging peacefully and democratically in modern, advanced societies, from Quebec, to Montenegro, to Ireland. This same issue is currently under debate in Belgium and Scotland, and closer to home, in the Basque Country and Catalonia also.

And indeed, as President Ibarretxe has said on many occasions, the 21st century is the century of identity and nations; it is the century of respect for the will of the people.

It was the Council of Europe that suggested to the member States that they resolve their problems by consulting their citizens. Kosovo is just another case which proves that the democratic right to free determination established by international law is alive and well, contradicting once again those who sustain that this right does not exist in any democratic country.

Nothing, in fact, could be further from the truth. Respect for the will of the people constitutes the key to solving deeply-entrenched political problems. Problems of harmonious coexistence between different peoples and nations must be solved on the grounds of mutual respect, dialogue and coexistence between equals. They must be solved on the grounds of respect for the will of the people and a recognition of their right to decide their own future.

I would like to conclude with something President Ibarretxe said last Thursday during his speech at the University of Stanford:

In the 21st century, it is vital to resolve the political conflict existing between the Basque Country and Spain through dialogue, mutual respect and an acknowledgement of the capacity of the Basque people to decide their own future.

The recognition of the Basque people's right to decide their own future and the commitment to exercise this right through agreement and negotiation is the key to resolving the situation.
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It is, then, the right to self-determination, the Basque people's right to decide for themselves, that is the key which will unlock the door to a definitive solution for the Basque political conflict, with the support of the international community.