ETA’s ‘permanent’ ceasefire offer does not convince Spanish firms
In a statement dated January 8, made public at a Basque nationalistic newspaper and on a video released on the internet, ETA has announced the end of its armed struggle against the Spanish state and has pledged to respect a complete ceasefire that is ‘permanent, of a general character and internationally verifiable’.
The terrorist group said that it would pursue the ‘democratic process’ to fulfil its goals, namely the independence of the Basque Country. It urged Spain and France to relinquish what ETA calls ‘the repressive measures and the negation of Euskal Herria’, which is the Basque phrase that refers to the Basque Country. The region includes stretches of Spain and France.
But the Spanish government has dismissed the new statement, claiming that it falls well short of a definitive commitment to the democratic process and that, anyway, ETA is in no position to make any demands. The terrorist group is deemed to have been much weakened by a series of successful operations by the Spanish security forces, often in close collaboration with their French peers. In the past, France was seen as a safe haven for Spanish members of ETA. But one day after the statement was made public, the group suffered a new setback when two of its members were arrested in the French town of Ciboure.
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Spain’s Interior Minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, said that the statement does not meet the expectations of the Spanish society. The regional governor of the Basque Country, Patxi López, said that the offer only shows that ETA is aware that its end is nigh. The main opposition party, the PP, ironically noted that the ‘year is new, but the statement is old’.
Analysts have pointed out that ETA’s long-held habit of unilaterally breaking ceasefires has contributed to the general scepticism towards its latest offers of peace, which have become more frequent as the perceived strength of the group wanes. An association of ETA victims has warned that the initiative is only a ploy to enable Batasuna, the group’s political arm, to be granted authorisation to participate in forthcoming regional elections.
For long-suffering business leaders in the Basque Country, the statement brings no evidence that ETA will stop charging its infamous ‘revolutionary tax’[single quotes] to companies based in the region. Although some terrorism experts have raised the possibility that the ambiguous wording of the text could imply the end of ETA’s extortions, business leaders would rather prefer to see an explicit commitment from the group.
Confesbask, the Basque business association, qualified ETA’s offer as ‘insuficient’. The entity released its own statement where it urges ETA to definitively give up ‘all kinds of violence, including extortion’. It also demands the complete dismantling of the terrorist group. The view was shared by Circulo de Empresarios Vascos, another business association, which said the statement was ‘good news, but it would be better if the group had announced the end of violence, including extortion, in unambiguous ways and without making any demands’.
For his part, the head of the business association of Navarra, a province which also has some territory claimed by Basque nationalists, qualified ETA’s statement as a ‘trap’. Business leaders have noted that during previous ceasefires ETA not only maintained the charging of the ‘revolutionary tax’, but also often intensified its violent money-raising activities in order to fill its coffers for the next step of the armed struggle.
Extortion is only one of the costs incurred by Basque companies due to ETA’s activities, as security measures represent an important cost element for both the private and public sector in the region. Mikel Buesa, an economist at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, estimates that terrorist violence reduces the Basque’s GDP growth rate by 0.84 percent point every year. And that’s not to mention the losses of life. In over half a century of terror activities, the armed band has killed more than 850 people.
