PP and Amaiur clash in Congress over ETA, Basque Country policies

The now ruling Popular Party (PP) and the Basque radical abertzale coalition Amaiur locked horns publically for the first time in Congress on Tuesday, as they each accused the other of not doing enough to ensure the final end of ETA.

With his harshest words aimed at the seven deputies of the Amaiur coalition, incoming Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy invoked the memory of all the victims of the Basque terrorist group, professing that "Spain does not owe" anything to ETA or the abertzale. He demanded that the new coalition force the terrorists to disband once and for all.

Amaiur selected Iñaki Antigüedad, who headed the coalition's slate and represents the Bizkaia province, to respond to Rajoy's comments. Antigüedad said that if Rajoy wished to be a "statesman" he should seek "an integral solution to a conflict that is political;" a solution which lies in home rule for the northern region. Antigüedad accused the government of not committing to take steps toward peace in the region.

"I owe you absolutely nothing," Rajoy said after Antigüedad read out the Spanish dictionary definition of the word "radical." "Neither I, nor Spanish society. The step that we are waiting for is for ETA, which still exists, to announce its irreversible dissolution. Spaniards need guarantees that there will be no threats, no blackmail ? that this has ended."

Antigüedad then addressed "Josu [Erkoreka]," of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), and "Uxue [Barcos]," of the Geroa Bai bloc to tell them that Spain's national Congress should not be the setting to discuss the Basque Country's economy or Navarre's "asparagus industry."

He also criticized the PP for refusing to recognize his coalition, which is now the fifth-largest political force in the Spanish parliament.

"Amaiur has become the leading political force in the Basque Country and Navarre and so that should mean something. There is no way you can ignore this," he argued.

Rajoy has said that he won't meet with the coalition members until they publically renounce violence. Amaiur won landslides throughout the two regions, giving the abertzale its first representation in Congress in 18 years. What has changed since then, however, has been ETA's announcement of its definitive ceasefire, and Antigüedad, without naming the Basque terrorist group by name, referred to the Declaration of Aiete, which the radical parties signed earlier this year pledging to look for a peaceful political solution to the Basque Country.

Following this line, Antigüedad added that one of the "most important measures" of the peace process is to look for ways to change Spanish and French penitentiary policies to allow the estimated 650 ETA inmates to be transferred to Basque prisons so that they can be closer to their families.

Referring to Amaiur's position on ETA victims, Antigüedad said that the statement signed on Saturday in San Sebastián, along with the Batasuna Party, expressing "collective sorrow" for the families, was part of their goodwill gesture "because anything less isn't enough."