PP flinging "ETA's filth" at Socialists, deputy PM says

The opposition Popular Party (PP) is using "ETA's filth" to attack the Socialist government, said Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba in a session of Congress dominated by questions over the Faisán case, an alleged high-level tip-off to ETA's extortion team about a police raid.

The PP bases its accusations of government involvement on ETA's minutes of the 2006 meetings between government emissaries and the terrorists, in which the former allegedly promised to make some concessions in exchange for an end to violence in the Basque region. These documents make a reference to the tip-off, which aborted a major raid against ETA just as the executive was preparing to officially announce the start of talks.

The minutes show "the government violated the law" and "brought the state to its knees before the terrorists," according to the opposition. PP deputy Ignacio Gil Lázaro called the contents of the minutes "an ignominy" and demanded Rubalcaba, who was then Interior Minister, "apologize, tell the truth and leave."

Rubalcaba said the PP is using ETA's version of events to launch "an arsenal of infamy" against the government.