Anytime there is a debate about ETA and the future of the Basque Country, Northern Ireland invariably gets thrown into the mix. Northern Ireland is put forward as a shining example of how dialogue, in place of violence, leads to peace. However, many question if such parallels can be drawn.

The peace negotiations between ETA and the Spanish government have a short history. The circumstances are reminiscent of Northern Ireland during the 1980's when unofficial negotiations took place behind closed doors between representatives of the IRA and the British government. Similar talks have taken place in recent years between the Spanish government and ETA representatives. While peace in Northern Ireland has been the accumulation of twenty years of give and take from those on both sides of the fence, the peace process in the Spanish peninsula is still experiencing teething problems.

In Britain many people were quite apathetic to the fact that both the Major and Blair administrations were holding dialogues with the IRA and making compromises on issues such as the release of prisoners, the reduction in the presence of British troops in Northern Ireland, the dismantling of observation towers and on policing. On the other hand, public opinion in Spain sees the punishment of ETA terrorists as the number one priority and there is a strong conviction that compromises are not the best way of achieving peace.

While there existed a certain consensus among the political parties in both Ireland and Britain not to exploit the delicate peace negotiations for political gain, the opposite is true in Spain. No sooner had ETA announced an end to their ceasefire in June of this year, than the leader of el Partido Popular Rajoy launched into vocal criticisms of the government for their handling of ETA and at the same time rejected calls from the Spanish president Zapatero for solidarity from the national parties.

The situation is further confounded by divisions among the Basque leadership. Pundits pointed to the lack of a roadmap as the main reason for the collapse of ETA's last ceasefire. Many have tried to draw parallels between Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams and Arnaldo Otegui, the leader of Batasuna, considered to be the political wing of ETA. However, a fundamental difference is that while Adams had a lot of apparent influence over the militant faction within his party and was able to steer the organisation to look for Irish unity in a peaceful manner, ETA lacks any clear direction. Adam's strategy has led his once outlawed party to be represented in four parliaments: the Irish Dáil Éireann, Northern Ireland's Stormount, England's Westminister and the European parliament in Strasbourg. On the other hand Batasuna face an uphill battle against a Spanish government that refuses to recognise them as a legitimate political party.

Dialogue seems like it will be the key to a resolution of the Basque issue. Even former president Aznar and current opposition leader Rajoy held talks with ETA when el Partido Popular were in power, even though this is now strongly denied. Not very long ago, it would have been unthinkable to imagine the hardline Democratic Unionist Party leader the Reverend Ian Paisley being in the same room as Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness. Now they work side by side making political decisions over the everyday running of North Ireland. On the other hand, Spain seems to be many years away from finding a solution to the Basque problem.


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Tags: Basque Country, Euskadi, Ireland, Northern Ireland, peace, Spain, ETA, IRA, politics

The Basque separatist group ETA have announced an end to their year-long ceasefire stating that "the minimum conditions for continuing a process of negotiations do not exist” and that the Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has responded to their ceasefire "with arrests, torture and persecution.” In December Zapatero broke off talks with ETA after a bombing in Madrid airport. The ending of the ceasefire means that ETA are currently the only major armed political group within the EU. ETA want an independent Basque state for the more than 2 million people who live in the Basque regions in north of Spain and south of France.

Tags: ETA, Basque Country, Spain, politics