Abstract
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The recent Euskadi ta Alkartasuna (ETA) ceasefire declaration has been received with much interest and fanfare by the international media. The same announcement was met instead with a tangible lack of enthusiasm by Spanish and Basque political figures. The Spanish president Zapatero, the Basque president Lopez and Urkullu, the leader of the most voted Basque nationalist party (PNV), agreed that the communiqué was a ‘step forward’ but ultimately ‘insufficient’ and ‘not the news the country had been hoping for’. Such mix of scepticism and disappointment is partly a product of the previous failed experience with the 2006 ETA truce. Months of painstakingly slow negotiations between ETA and government representatives were then shattered with a bomb attack at Madrid airport that killed two people. The outcome left the Zapatero’s government frustrated and unwilling to get their fingers burnt again.</span>
Highlights
There are a few interesting divergences from the 2006 ceasefire
The recent Euskadi ta Alkartasuna (ETA) ceasefire declaration has been received with much interest and fanfare by the international media
There is an additional novelty: a commitment for a ‘lasting resolution towards an end to the armed confrontation’. This phrase has never been used by ETA before but it comes with the caveat that the dissolution of the group should follow the fulfilment of political conditions such as territoriality and self-determination
Summary
There are a few interesting divergences from the 2006 ceasefire. The use of words ‘general’ and ‘verifiable by the international community’ are new and help to separate this statement from the 2006 declaration, which was ‘permanent’. Proof that the pressure has not wavered comes from the recent arrests of two alleged ETA members in France and, in a separate operation, 10 members of EKIN, ETA’s political apparatus. Opening negotiations again is seen as a politically very risky move in a context where the economic crisis is rapidly eroding the party’s support amongst the Spanish electorate.
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