European Affairs - Presidency of the Basque Government - Euskadi.net - The regional president declared ETA and the Spanish government could not decide the future of the Basques in secret

Fecha de publicación: 02/02/2009

After giving a lecture at Ulster University, Ibarretxe had talks with Nobel Peace Prize winner John Hume

The regional president declared ETA and the Spanish government could not decide the future of the Basques in secret

He called on people to forget the old, failed recipes of the past and to launch a model of dialogue in the style of the Downing St. declaration

At a lecture given at the University of Ulster, Derry, Basque regional president Juan José Ibarretxe declared that ETA and the Spanish government could not decide the future of the Basques in secret talks and called on people to forget the old, failed recipes of the past and to launch a new type of dialogue based on a round table of all parties

El Lehendakari y John Hume durante la visita que han hecho por las murallas de Derry (JB)

El Lehendakari y John Hume en las murallas de Derry (JB)

Lecture (pdf, in English)

Summary of lecture (pdf, in Spanish)

Palabras del Lehendakari (Real Player, en inglés)

Palabras de Pat Colgan (Real Player)

"One of the most important lessons to be learnt from the peace process in Northern Ireland was when the Downing Street Declaration was signed", he declared.

Basque regional president Juan José Ibarretxe visited Derry in Northern Ireland to give a lecture on "Peace and dialogue in the Basque Country ", as the guest of the Centre for Conflict Resolution INCORE. Ibarretxe's lecture was part of a forum directed by Northern Ireland politician and Nobel Peace Prize winner John Hume, who acted as moderator. Hume also accompanied Ibarretxe on an afternoon visit to the city's famed walls. Others who have spoken at the forum include ex-UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Bill and Hilary Clinton, John Kerry and Romano Prodi. Prior to the lecture, Ibarretxe was met by the Mayor of Derry, Gerard Diver, and also had a brief meeting with the man in charge of the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland, Pat Colgan.

Speaking in English to an audience of more than 150 people, including political and religious leaders, university professors and experts in conflict mediation, Ibarretxe noted that all the attempts to set up a dialogue for peace between ETA and the Spanish government since the end of the Franco regime had failed because "they've given priority to secret negotiations rather than setting up a genuine dialogue with the democratic representatives of the Basque Country, a dialogue in which the voice of all the region's political parties could be heard." So Ibarretxe argued for a different approach to the problem of conflict in the Basque Country.

"We've got to learn from the past," he said. "ETA and the Spanish government cannot decide the future of Basque society in secret talks. The future of the Basques will be freely decided by the people living there through peaceful, democratic means."

"Irish society knows better than anyone the importance of including everyone in the process. It's by no means an easy thing to do, but it's the only way to make progress, if we really believe in giving society in general a central role in the process. And if we don't do things that way," he warned, "ordinary people will think the process has nothing to do with them and when problems arise, it'll be too late to ask them for their support."