Yesterday the Spanish parliament accepted a proposal by a member of the PNV (the conservative Basque nationalists) to officially change the names of the three Basque provinces – Alava, Vizcaya and Guipuzcoa – to their Basque names Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa. There were 198 votes in favour of the proposal, 143 against and 3 abstentions.

The result of this vote in favor of the proposal means that the three Basque provinces will eventally be officially called by their Basque names. In the case of Alava it will be called Araba/Àlava after an amendment by a group of nationalists with the other two provinces taking their Basque names only – Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa.

The PP opposed the proposal saying that this initiative supported monolingüism and would eradicate Spanish names. However, Aitor Esteban who proposed the changes defended his proposal saying that it was not the first time that the PNV had asked for name changes to Basque provinces. He also reminded MPs that Ourense, Alacant, Girona and Lleida had not faced the same opposition when it came to changing their names to the local dialect and asked for the same acceptance when it came to changing the names of Basque provinces.