EU: The European Parliament voted narrowly yesterday to give its support to the Spanish government's plans for peace talks with the Basque separatist group Eta.
After a highly charged debate, a motion endorsing the position of Spain's Socialist prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, was approved by 321 votes to 311. It was opposed by the parliament's largest political group, the conservative European People's Party (EPP), which counts Spain's opposition Popular Party among its members.
Urging cross-party support for Madrid's strategy, Liberal MEP Graham Watson recalled the support given to John Hume and David Trimble during Northern Ireland's peace process. "They took a risk for peace. This is not to hand a victory to the terrorists, as some would suggest, but rather to hand them a defeat. For there can be no dialogue among democrats if one of the parties still maintains the intent to kill," he said.
Fine Gael's five MEPs, who are affiliated to the EPP group, opposed the motion, voting instead for the EPP's defeated alternative, which stated that the EU "categorically rejects any pretension to alter the territorial integrity of a member state".
Avril Doyle MEP said the resolution put her party in a difficult position because of the success of the Irish peace process and the support it had received from the EU.
"However, there are dangers in drawing parallels between the Irish peace process and the situation that currently exists in Spain," she said. "To begin with, the Irish peace process had the support of two sovereign governments and the support of the vast majority of political parties on both islands. In Spain there is still deep division on how best to proceed." Fine Gael members had voted in solidarity with their Spanish counterparts in the EPP, she added.
Fianna Fáil's four MEPs voted against their own colleagues in the Union for Europe of the Nations group and supported the Spanish government's policy, while Sinn Féin's Bairbre de Brún abstained. Fianna Fáil MEP Brian Crowley said that a peace process involved talking to one's enemies, not one's friends.
Eta declared a permanent ceasefire in March. However, yesterday's debate took place a day after French police said they were investigating whether the group stole 350 guns from an arms factory in southern France on Monday.