TransAtlantic Perspectives, Vol. I (March 2002)

The view from Spain, Caroline Travalia

Fight against terrorism focus of Spanish presidency 
Since assuming the presidency of the EU on January 1, Spanish President José María Aznar has repeatedly identified the fight against terrorism as a main priority of his administration. While the war on terrorism may mean one thing to an American public, it has different implications for Spain, where the Basque extremist terrorist organization ETA has been active for decades. Aznar’s rhetoric and policies aim at both strengthening Spain’s role in Europe and more specifically within in a common European security and defense policy as well as targeting terrorist groups within Spain. 

Before the European Parliament plenary session in Strasburg earlier this year, Aznar affirmed that Spain wants to initiate a debate “so that the fight against terrorism becomes an objective of the EU’s Security and Defense policy,” with the goal of eliminating “sanctuaries of terror” within EU borders. By eliminating such havens for terrorists, Spain hopes to debilitate not only international terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda, but also the terrorist band that resides within its own borders, the Basque group ETA.  The organization uses violence as a means to pressure the Spanish government to grant independence to the Basque Country, a region located in Northern Spain and Southwest France. 

Since the September 11 attacks on the U.S. and the international call to eradicate world-wide terrorism that followed, European leaders have worked hard to put into action pending measures like the Eurorder.  Such laws serve to facilitate collaboration between security and judicial forces in individual European countries.  Spanish officials have used the chance of cooperation with French authorities to crack down on the ETA.  For the first time, France is playing an active role in the campaign against ETA, refusing to serve any longer as a sanctuary for the band’s members.  Since January 1st of this year, the French police have detained one ETA member in the town of Tartas (region of Las Landas), another six in Bordeaux, as well as uncovered an ETA workshop and arsenal near Pau. 

Cooperation has also come from the other side of the Atlantic, as the US Treasury Department announced this past week that they will freeze accounts and confiscate goods of ETA members that appear on the list of terrorists approved by the EU December 23 of last year.  This marks a significant change in US treatment of the terrorist group, since in the past the US government has tended to avoid defining any position regarding ETA.
Despite such advances, ETA continues to commit terrorist acts in Spain.  In the past few months, the organization has carried out three attacks against both government officials and civilians in the Basque region.  In the first attack of the year, ETA members set off a bomb in a busy shopping mall at mid-day on a Saturday (January 12th) in downtown Bilbao.  No one was killed.  A month later, on February 19th, ETA members set off a car bomb and wounded the 26 year-old leader of the Young Socialists, Eduardo Madina Muñoz.  Although Muñoz survived the explosion, he sustained significant injuries and doctors amputated his left leg the same day.  Ten days later, on February 28, ETA members detonated a bomb hidden in a shopping cart and left a town councilor and her escort wounded, although not fatally.  The threat is so real that many political leaders in the Basque Country have 24-hr. escorts to protect them from possible attacks.

These incidents constitute the latest acts in ETA’s history of terror that dates back to the era of Franco.  When the group opposed Franco’s dictatorship, it was not openly criticized by the majority of Spaniards. It was only after the general’s death in 1975 and the installation of the democracy that ETA lost central support and intensified the use of violence as a means to achieve its goals.  After a 15-month truce (September 1998 to December 1999), ETA has resumed its violent activity. Today, the Spanish government continues adamantly to refuse to meet the terrorist group’s demands, and is supported by a great majority of Spanish citizens and all political parties except one of the Basque parties, the radical nationalist Batasuna. 

In addition to fighting terrorism, Aznar’s other projects on the agenda for Spain during his presidency include the transition to the Euro, continuation of economic and social reforms, EU enlargement, the development of the European Foreign Defense policy, and the debate about the future of the EU. 

In mid-March the Spanish presidency will celebrate its first European summit in Barcelona.  In addition to the current 15 members, 13 applicant countries will be present and the EU enlargement will be high on the agenda.  The second European summit will take place in Madrid in May.  It will focus on European relations with Latin America and the Caribbean with a special attention being given to the economic aspect of those relations.  Seville will be the sight of the final European summit in June.  Only the current 15 members will be present to discuss the future of the EU. 

Aznar has also stressed the need to strengthen the transatlantic relationship as well as working toward ameliorating the situation in the Middle East.  Under the slogan, “More Europe”, Spain seeks to communicate “the will to achieve for Europe the weight and place it deserves in international relations”.  For Aznar at least, more Europe does not necessarily mean less Spain.