Basque opposition snubs talk initiative

18 December 2007

VITORIA – Socialist and conservative Basque politicians on Monday snubbed the newly appointed head of the northern region’s governing Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), saying they will not meet with him if he includes ETA’s outlawed political wing Batasuna in talks on the Basque Country’s future.

PNV President Iñigo Urkullu on Sunday called a round of meetings with leaders of all political parties in the troubled region, claiming that “scorn and rejection” have so far proven insufficient to end ETA violence. But yesterday, both the Basque Socialist Party (PSE) and the Popular Party retorted that in light of ETA’s ongoing terrorist campaign, the group and its political wing Batasuna should only be condemned, not talked to. “Urkullu is making a terrible mistake,” Rodolfo Ares, a PSE spokesman said. “The conditions are not right for dialogue with a group that continues to support terrorist violence.”

[Copyright EL PAÍS, SL./ ISABEL C. MARTÍNEZ 2007]

Subject: Spanish news