Spanish PM eager to start talks with ETA

THE Spanish prime minister said yesterday that if the government confirms that the Basque separatist group ETA’s permanent ceasefire is authentic, he will push for peace talks in a matter of months.

Yesterday marked the first day of the ceasefire by the group blamed for more than 800 deaths and €12.9 billion in damage since the 1960s in its fight for an independent homeland.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said the government will now seek to verify whether the ceasefire is sincere and accompanied by an end to other ETA tactics, such as extortion of business leaders and low-level street violence. Both continued during ETA's last truce, in 1998-99.