Main focus of Monday, August 3, 2009

How to meet the Eta threat?

Almost 50 years after Eta was founded, presumed terrorists of the Basque underground organisation carried out a bomb attack on the Spanish island of Majorca on Thursday. This attack, the second in Spain in less than 48 hours, cost the lives of two police officers. As investigations continue the European press discusses how to meet the threat posed by the Basque terrorists.

The Irish Times - Ireland

The Irish Times hopes that the most recent attacks by Eta do not mark the start of a new campaign: "The sudden surge in Eta's terrorist campaign for an independent Basque Country has surprised and disturbed many observers, not least in Spain's interior ministry. The ministry, along with the French authorities, has enjoyed a series of significant police successes against Eta over the last year. ... The hope must be that these attacks are not the start of a new sustained campaign by the group but are, as the interior ministry claimed, simply a last desperate attempt to convince both its supporters and the Spanish government that Eta is still a significant force. Clearly though, there are still Basques who believe that self-determination for the region is a prize worth fighting for. Much will depend on how many Eta can call on for such actions and the success enjoyed by the police in catching the culprits and their leaders." (03/08/2009)

» full article (external link, English)
More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Separatism, » Spain

Le Figaro - France

After Eta's Majorca attack the right-wing conservative daily Le Figaro writes: "Fifty years after its birth in the midst of the Franco era the terrorist organisation Eta still knows only one approach: killing. If the 'armed battle' could ever be defended that was fifty years ago, when the goal was to fight one of non-communist Europe's last dictatorships. There was a time when one could talk of a 'separatist' armed organisation or of 'unbending freedom fighters'. But those who hide behind the 'Basque country and freedom' slogan today and distort it with so much bloodshed are merely an anachronistic relict of times long gone when violence dominated politics. Eta holds the sad privilege of being the oldest terrorist organisation on our continent. While Spain has become one of the largest European democracies its totalitarian past lives on in these enlightened youths who are blinded by their own violence." (01/08/2009)

» full article (external link, French)
More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Domestic Policy, » Spain
All available articles from » Pierre Rousselin

El Mundo - Spain

After the two attacks by the Basque underground organisation Eta last week the conservative daily El Mundo warns against future negotiations with the political arm of the terrorist group: "The Basque country's separatist Left probably realises it can get more concessions from the state by taking the Catalan approach [official political negotiations] than through terrorism, which is provoking more condemnation with every passing day. This is why it's so interested in negotiating, in being the government's negotiating partner once more and regaining a legal status that enables it to run in elections. The government should not fall into this trap. The only course at this point is for the police to take tough action and the democratic parties to present a united front. Until Eta finally renounces violence for good we must pursue this careful policy aimed at the total and unconditional submission of the group." (03/08/2009)

» more information (external link, Spanish)
More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Social movements, » Separatism, » Spain

Süddeutsche Zeitung - Germany

The vast majority of Spaniards stand united in the fight against Eta, writes the left-liberal daily Süddeutsche Zeitung: "The leadership of the Basque terrorist organisation Eta ... lives 'a thousand kilometres from reality'. The striking thing about this observation is that it stems not from the opponents of the terrorist organisation ... but from the pen of Txema Matanzas, until recently the radicals' key ideologist. It is time to put an end to the violence, Matanzas declared from prison. The idea that the state so despised by Eta will once more sit down at the negotiating table as it did in 2006 is completely misguided. ... Three times various governments have ventured to negotiate, and three times Eta went back to setting off bombs in the name of its idea of the Basque Country. Both major parties, the governing Socialists as well as the conservative People's Party, are demonstrating unity in the fight against Eta with their words and their actions. This unity is profoundly shared by almost the entire Spanish population, and enjoys widespread support from abroad." (03/08/2009)

» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Weltanschauung, » Separatism, » France, » Spain
All available articles from » Javier Cáceres

» To the complete press review of Monday, August 3, 2009