The Basque Nationalist Party is a Basque nationalist party; as of 2007 is the largest political party in the Basque Autonomous Community. It led Basque regional government under the Spanish Second Republic and has done so again during the democratic decades following the rule of Francisco Franco.
In Basque it is called Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea (EAJ) and in Spanish it is called the Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV). In Spain it is commonly referred to as EAJ-PNV. The French branch is the Parti Nationaliste Basque (PNB).The chairman of the EBB of EAJ-PNV is Iñigo Urkullu.
The youth wing of the Basque Nationalist Party is Euzko Gaztedi-EGI.
The party also has offices among the Basque diaspora, mainly Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, Chile and the United States.
The party was founded in 1895 by Sabino de Arana y Goiri as a Catholic conservative, party agitating for the restoration of self-government and the denfese of the "Basque race". Currently, it describes itself as Basque, democratic, participatory, plural, and humanist. It is a moderate nationalist party which favours greater autonomy, if not independence itself, for the Basque region. PNV opposes political violence.
In its beginnings, the party established a requirement for its members to prove Basque ancestry by having a minimum number of Basque surnames.