News

The Spanish Supreme Court considers that the Basque Government was excessive in conceding financial aid to families of Basque prisoners in order to pay for visits to inmates serving sentences outside the Basque Country.

Outlining its sentence, the High Court rejected the decision taken by the previous Basque president Juan José Ibarretxe''s government to act against a 2005 ruling by the Basque High Court to cancel government subsidies for such visits.

The Central Supreme Court argued that, despite the Basque Country having the autonomous power to grant social aid, these particular subsidies should be allocated only to families of inmates serving sentences in Basque prisons "since territoriality intrinsically limits the practice of such authority".