Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said on
Friday that the ETA ceasefire is just the first step to the final
settlement of the whole issue.
Zapatero made the remarks at the Brussels press conference held
after a European Council meeting.
He said he would appear before parliament this summer with a
plan to move forward if an end to violence is verified.
The Basque separatist group ETA announced to begin a ceasefire
from 23:00 GMT Thursday.
The group said it ended a campaign that began in 1968 and left
some 850 people dead and thousands wounded.
A survey published by Friday's Spanish newspapers shows that 80
percent of Spaniards believed that Zapatero was obliged to explore
dialogue with ETA.
Eighty-six percent of respondents said that the largest
opposition People's Party should support the government without
quibbles in the process.
(Xinhua News Agency, March 25, 2006)
