🚀 go-pugleaf

----------------------------Original message----------------------------


Hello all,

I quite enjoyed reading Mark Kurlansky's LETTER FROM EUSKADI (Newsday,
March 13, p.34, N.Y.) posted by Marta here. Wouldn't you say however that
it gives a bit of a rosy picture of the actual facts.. whilst Kurlansky
elaborates on the wonders of red berets, good wine and fish, road signs
in Basque etc, he is not quite incisive as to  the reality of Basque economy.
I quote:

>   Euskadi, the Euskera name for the traditional Basque homeland is
>composed of four Spanish and three French regions.  While the Basque
>provinces are among the poorest parts of France, the Basque provinces
>of Spain - Navarra, Guipuzcoa, Vizcaya and Alava - have long been
>among that country's richest.  The capital of Guipuzcoa, San Sebastian,
>is an elegant resort town with a crescent of beach in front of stately
>Belle Epoque architecture.  The Vizcayan capital of Bilbao is a center
>of banking and industry.

Well, on the one hand it is untrue that Iparraldea is among the poorest
regions in France -- their standard of living is fairly good, and although
pretty rural and over-dependent on tourism it is far more prosperous than
many industrial regions in France where unemployment is a major issue.

On the other hand, Hegoaldea (the Basque autonomous community and Navarre--
under Spanish administration) is *not* presently a rich region in the
context of the rest of Spain as it used to be in the past. Unemployment
figures are by far the largest in Spain (over 20% & still rising),
foreign investors are deterred by terrorist extortion, strikes, bombs
and whatnot, local entrepreneurs and businesses have to cope with extortion
, traditional fishing small businesses have been badly hit by EU quotas,
& so on so forth. Certainly the prosperous Euskadi of the golden days of
heavy industry, big railways contracts, successful banking & so on are
definitely gone and Basque economy is going through a very deep recession
indeed. To many people, still the living stardards are fairly good, but
the lack of investment in manufacturing industry and financial services
is alarming and raises serious worries for a long term recovery.

This is the Euskadi I know and it's very different from the recollections
of my grandfather, when good money poured in from abroad. It's nonsense
to re-tell fairy tales that belong to the past.

Mikel.