Northern Ireland's peace agreement should be used as an example of how dialogue can solve the problem in Spain's Basque country, the political wing of the Basque armed separatist group ETA, Herri Batasuna, said yesterday.
The party's spokesman, Mr Arnaldo Otegi, told a crowd of 18,000 supporters celebrating Basque Day that round-table talks such as those used to find a solution to Northern Ireland's three decades of civil strife "will also resolve the Basque conflict". He welcomed the peace accord while some of the crowd - which included some young members of Sinn Fein - chanted ETA and IRA slogans.
Mr Otegi said there were "undeniable analogies" between the two regions and called on the British prime minister, Mr Blair, currently on holiday in Spain, to help the Spanish premier to "also resolve, with the same democratic talent, the Basque problem".
But Spain's ruling Popular Party and the main opposition Socialist Workers' Party said after the declaration of the Northern Ireland peace deal that its mechanisms were not applicable to the Basque region.