Spain's PM declares five principles for Basque region

Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Sunday made a public declaration of five principles for normalizing political life in the Basque region.

Speaking at a conference of municipal officials and legislators, Zapatero said "in order to speak of peace, one has to completely and permanently forget violence" in the Basque region and the rest of Spain.

Zapatero, who was on his first visit to the Basque region since the Basque separatist group ETA broke a nine-month ceasefire last December, called on parties to respect the law in order to gain access to the elections.

The future of the Basque region must be decided by an agreement among the parties, by the citizenry within the framework of the Constitution and the laws of Spain, he said.

There will be no step forward while violence and threats of violence persist, he said, adding that he is determined to end violence and unite all Basques, all the Basque parties and all of Spain's citizens.

On Dec. 30 last year, ETA killed two Ecuadorians in a bomb attack on a parking lot of Madrid's Barajas airport. With that attack ETA resumed its use of violence in its fight for independence. ETA's attacks have killed 850 people since 1968.

Source: Xinhua