Spaanse regering: permanent staakt-het-vuren van ETA gaat niet ver genoeg (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Spanish government has rejected a permanent ceasefire declared on Monday (10 January) by the militant Basque separatist group Eta, saying it does not go far enough, as it did not vow to disarm and dissolve the organisation.
Responsible for over 800 killings and thousands of kidnappings in their fight for Basque independence and labelled a "terrorist organisation" both by the Spanish government and the EU i, Eta decreed a "permanent, general and verifiable ceasefire with a solid compromise to find a definitive solution to the end of the armed confrontation."
But the group failed to mention any move to disarm or dissolve, which are key demands for Madrid. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero i said the Eta plan is not satisfactory and that that the group must take "more forceful and definitive steps."
"Those who see some element of hope in Eta's announcement need to know that the road ahead is still long, because the only thing that matters is the definitive end of the Eta terrorist group," Mr Zapatero said on Antena3 television.
He added there "will be no dialogue" with the group, nor would the government "allow any trick."
Spain's centre-left government is wary of the believing in a ceasefire since the last truce it declared was broken by a bomb attack at Madrid's Barajas airport in December 2006. The most recent Eta attack, a car bombing on the island of Majorca, took place in July, 2009, and killed two police officers.
Interior minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, said that while he was "calmer than yesterday," he remained sceptical about Eta's actions.
"We see the same Eta with the same demands and with a distorted vision of reality and the arrogance that uses the same language and also the same scenery. All we want is the end of the band," he said.
The right-wing opposition went even further, saying that the ceasefire is a mere smokescreen to buy Eta more time to perpetrate further crimes.
"This ceasefire is a pause. It is not renouncing criminal activity. It reinforces the right of Eta to exist. It renounces nothing and does not ask for forgiveness from the victims," Dolores de Cospedal, secretary general of the Popular Party said.
Not even the Basque Nationalist Party was satisfied with the announcement, which to their mind was "disappointing and insufficient." The party wants to clear its name of the links with the armed group ahead of local and regional elections in May.