THERE HAVE been grim reminders in the last week that Eta, the pro-independence Basque terrorist group, has not gone away. A lethal car-bombing near Vitoria last Wednesday and a big explosion near Bilbao early yesterday represent a significant escalation after relative inactivity since the group's previous killing last March.
Every day, of course, with bombs or without them, the deeply rooted clash of identities which divides the people of the region rumbles on in the political arena. About half the Basques passionately want greater sovereignty from Madrid while the rest are content with strong regional autonomy. Cool minds would advise keeping the issues completely separate. The use of violence is unacceptable in the service of any political goal in a democracy. Yet no political goal should be considered undemocratic or illegitimate because one group pursues it by terrorist means.
The massive car-bombing last Wednesday which claimed the life of a Guardia Civil, Juan Manuel Piñuel, makes such cool advice very difficult for anyone in Madrid to accept. Several children were among the targets of the no-warning attack. Fortunately, they were unscathed. It is no accident that these attacks are taking place at a very delicate moment. Lehendakari (first minister) of the Basque government Juan José Ibarretxe is due to meet today with Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
Ibarretxe wants Zapatero to recognise the Basque Country as a sovereign nation. He has also declared his intention to hold a non-binding "consultation" on Basque sovereignty next autumn. Many Spaniards (and many Basques) regard Ibarretxe's proposals as tantamount to treason. Yet, in normal circumstances there would be no reason why Basque nationalists should not pursue these aims by democratic means. But Eta's latest attacks make it impossible for the usually innovative Zapatero to be flexible on these issues. And they make Ibarretxe and his Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) look like pawns for violent revolutionaries.
Ibarretxe is correct when he describes Eta as the greatest obstacle to increased Basque sovereignty. Yet he must also recognise that a truly democratic debate about new Basque institutions can hardly take place in the present context. Eta killed a member of Zapatero's Socialist Party (PSOE) on the eve of last March's general elections. The PSOE went on to win the biggest share of the Basque vote, for the first time. Yet its representatives cannot walk Basque streets without bodyguards. The PNV pays no such price for its political principles.
The two leaders should seek a formula which respects all identities in the region but which postpones any institutional changes until Eta ends terrorist activities. This will not be easy. But perhaps some comfort may be drawn from the new unity shown by all Basque parties, except Eta's proxies, in the face of Eta's action. And from the great generosity with which the Guardia Civil's widow, María Victoria Campos, thanked "the Basque people" - a phrase many Spanish people find difficult to pronounce - for their support in her suffering.