SPAIN: Church bells rang out across the Basque Country at midnight as Eta's ceasefire came into effect. Bars were crowded and a mood of optimism could be felt in the streets. In the morning some people even dared to go out without bodyguards for the first time in many years.
This ceasefire differs from previous ones in that it is the first time that Eta (Basque Homeland and Liberty) has declared a "permanent" ceasefire, instead of a conditional truce. In 1998 they stated that their goal remained an independent Basque state and gave no promises to end their campaign of extortion. This week they made no mention of independence, called for "dialogue and negotiation" and pledged to end all operations.
In Brussels yesterday, Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero received congratulations from his EU colleagues. He said he would present his road map to peace in parliament before the summer for approval, and authorisation to start negotiations.
He was guardedly optimistic about the future of Eta, saying: "Obviously the government has sufficient grounds to believe we are in the ante-chamber of a definitive end." He specifically thanked the Irish and British governments for their support and said he would be visiting Dublin shortly.
Although rumours of a truce had been rife for some time, there were no hints as to its timing or how it had been reached. Now information is beginning to emerge. The Irish priest Fr Alec Reid, who has spent many months in Bilbao, is believed to have played a key role in the early stages. Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams also confirmed that senior party figures Gerry Kelly and former Belfast lord mayor Alex Maskey had played a role.
Mr Maskey said yesterday that Sinn Féin's experience of conflict resolution had been relevant to Eta, which had examined "in some considerable detail the pros and cons of our peace process, the often convoluted twists and turns".
It also appears that Eta sent a letter to Mr Zapatero in August 2004, only four months after he took office. This letter opened the door to a series of contacts in Switzerland and Norway between Jesús Eguiguren, president of the Basque Socialist Party (PSE), and a representative of Eta.
More recently there were further meetings in an isolated farmhouse in the Basque Country with Mr Eguiguren of PSE, the leader of Batasuna (Eta's banned political front), Arnaldo Otegi, and a government emissary. These talks laid down the plans for a ceasefire and were not peace talks.
The government has always stressed that there could be no negotiations until Eta renounced violence.
There have been no killings for almost three years, but Eta continued their campaign of bombings, street violence and blackmail.
On Tuesday the prime minister will meet the leader of the opposition Mariano Rajoy, whose conservative Popular Party (PP) was lukewarm over the ceasefire. After at first refusing to accept its significance, Mr Rajoy had to rapidly change tactics and offer his guarded support to the government.
A senior PP deputy, who asked not to be named, admitted it had been caught on the hop by the announcement. He said his party feared that if Mr Zapatero succeeded in dismantling Eta he would call and almost certainly win an early general election.
The question now being asked is what Eta will demand in return.
The future of some 500 Eta prisoners is likely to be one bargaining point. During the 14 months of the 1998 truce, under the PP government of Jose Maria Aznar, 180 prisoners were released, and another 135 were transferred to jails nearer their homes.
Diego Lopez Garrido, general secretary of the Socialist parliamentary group, denied there would be rewards for Eta. "I don't believe society should be generous simply because they have stopped fighting. There can be no political price for peace."