[1] Inspired by Puerto Rico's status with the United States,[2] as well as the sovereignty-association of the Parti Québécois with Canada[3] has been cited as a reference.
A debate on the plan was rejected by the Spanish Parliament and subsequently replaced by Ibarretxe's proposed Basque referendum, 2008.
The plan was announced by the former lehendakari (the President of the Basque region) Juan Jose Ibarretxe in September 2001 in a plenary of the Basque parliament but the actual contents of the proposal were not made public until July 2003, when leaked to the press.
The two main Spanish parties, the Socialists and the Conservatives, attempted to block the Basque parliament's decision by challenging it in the Constitutional Court, which approved the draft project for Spanish parliamentary consideration by a narrow margin.
Despite its majority support within the Region, the Ibarretxe Plan was not allowed to be considered for discussion in Congress on February 1, 2005, with 313 voting against debating it (PSOE, PP, IU, Canarian Coalition and CHA), while 29 voted for it (PNV, ERC, CiU, EA, Na-Bai and BNG), and 2 abstentions (IC-V).