Can the same old faces change?

Now that the Basque radical left has unveiled its new project, the Interior Ministry has 30 days to take evidence to the public prosecutor to show that the new organization is nothing more than the continuation of banned parties. The ministry will not just be examining the new statutes of the Sortu party, but also all information relevant to whether or not this new group has genuinely moved away from ETA.

For Javier Tajadura, head of Constitutional Law in the Basque Country, there is not enough evidence of a break from the terrorist group. "While ETA continues to exist, the Basque radical left has a very difficult job. What is needed to show that they have changed? Well of course, more than just the reading of a text. Repeated and convincing statements need to be made by the leaders rejecting not just future violence but also past violence."

Joan Queralt, professor of Penal Law at the University of Barcelona, holds a differing view. "A political party that rejects ETA violence, and also says that it would expel any member who partakes in violent acts, must be able to register as a party without any problems with the Interior Ministry. If not, what is required for them to be legal?" Queralt offers a comparison with attitudes toward the dictatorship. "There are parties who don't condemn Francoism. Should they be excluded from the system?"

Antonio Torres del Motal, a professor of Constitutional Law at the UNED open university, welcomes this "considerable advance," but says that the radical left must go further. "They must be frank and stop using soft language, because they are trying to show that there has been a radical change in their leadership. What is the problem with their using the word 'condemn' with regard to violence in place of 'rejection'?" Torres also criticizes the fact that a figure such as Rufi Etxeberria presented the new party, given his association in the public eye with the violence of ETA's past. "The big question is whether the same faces can be different now and in the future," Torres concludes.