Spain PM says no to Basque referendum plan
By Jason Webb
MADRID, May 20 (Reuters) - The Spanish government on Tuesday rejected a referendum planned in the Basque Country that would lead to talks on the violence-plagued region's ties with Spain.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he told the head of the Basque Country regional government, Juan Jose Ibarretxe, that the plan violated the Spanish constitution, during a meeting which took place as Basque separatist rebels ETA stage a bombing offensive.
The scene is now set for a confrontation later in the year if Ibarretxe tries to push ahead with the referendum in which he hopes Basques will vote to authorise talks between local political parties on the region's future.
The issue could dominate regional elections due by next year.
Ibarretxe, a member of the moderate Basque Nationalist Party, said Zapatero was more inflexible with him, an elected politician, than it had been during its failed attempt at peace talks with ETA.
"It's simply unacceptable that Prime Minister Rodriguez Zapatero has negotiated issues with ETA .... but refuses to negotiate on them with (me)," Ibarretxe told a news conference.
During the talks with ETA, which ended when the rebels killed two people with a bomb at Madrid airport in December 2006, the government said the Basque people should decide their region's future.
Tuesday's meeting at Madrid's Moncloa Palace took place as ETA steps up its violent campaign for Basque independence, a cause for which it has killed more than 800 people over four decades.
The guerrillas claimed their last victim only last week, said the government, which blamed them for blowing up a police barracks in the Basque Country, killing one officer.
While polls do not show a majority of Basques favour independence from Spain, Ibarretxe wants a discussion within the region on its future in a bid to find a peaceful settlement to the sovereignty dispute.
Conservative Spanish politicians say Ibarretxe's plan would be a prelude to independence for Basques, who are proud of their ancient culture and language, which has no known links to any other European tongue. (Reporting by Jason Webb and Inmaculada Sanz; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)
MADRID, May 20 (Reuters) - The Spanish government on Tuesday rejected a referendum planned in the Basque Country that would lead to talks on the violence-plagued region's ties with Spain.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he told the head of the Basque Country regional government, Juan Jose Ibarretxe, that the plan violated the Spanish constitution, during a meeting which took place as Basque separatist rebels ETA stage a bombing offensive.
The scene is now set for a confrontation later in the year if Ibarretxe tries to push ahead with the referendum in which he hopes Basques will vote to authorise talks between local political parties on the region's future.
The issue could dominate regional elections due by next year.
Ibarretxe, a member of the moderate Basque Nationalist Party, said Zapatero was more inflexible with him, an elected politician, than it had been during its failed attempt at peace talks with ETA.
"It's simply unacceptable that Prime Minister Rodriguez Zapatero has negotiated issues with ETA .... but refuses to negotiate on them with (me)," Ibarretxe told a news conference.
During the talks with ETA, which ended when the rebels killed two people with a bomb at Madrid airport in December 2006, the government said the Basque people should decide their region's future.
Tuesday's meeting at Madrid's Moncloa Palace took place as ETA steps up its violent campaign for Basque independence, a cause for which it has killed more than 800 people over four decades.
The guerrillas claimed their last victim only last week, said the government, which blamed them for blowing up a police barracks in the Basque Country, killing one officer.
While polls do not show a majority of Basques favour independence from Spain, Ibarretxe wants a discussion within the region on its future in a bid to find a peaceful settlement to the sovereignty dispute.
Conservative Spanish politicians say Ibarretxe's plan would be a prelude to independence for Basques, who are proud of their ancient culture and language, which has no known links to any other European tongue. (Reporting by Jason Webb and Inmaculada Sanz; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)
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