THERE IS NO SPAIN:

Spanish premier rejects Basque leader's plan for referendum on region's future (The Associated Press, October 16, 2007)

The Spanish premier, faced with a resurgence of separatist violence, was adamant in rejecting a proposed referendum on the future of the restive Basque country in talks with the region's president Tuesday.

"The Basque regional president must not call any type of a referendum," Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told reporters after meeting Basque leader Juan Jose Ibarretxe.

"Any type of referendum or so-called consultation of the people can only be authorized by the government," Zapatero said. "What can't be done won't be done."

But in a separate news conference, Ibarretxe insisted on carrying out his plan to consult Basque people about the region's future relationship with Spain in a referendum Oct. 25, 2008.

Regimes that live in fear of democracy don't last long.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 16, 2007 12:32 PM