 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.It was officially presented on October 25, 2003.