Most Basques think the process to bring a permanent peace to their region is stagnating or is in retreat, according to a poll by the Basque regional government published today.
Of the 1,000 people polled by phone, 58 per cent said the process was stagnating while a further 9 per cent said it was in retreat. Twenty-three percent said it was advancing.
The main obstacles to the peace process were fairly evenly spread among those who thought the process was in trouble, with 39 per cent saying the Spanish government was doing nothing to improve conditions for ETA prisoners.
Others mentioned the refusal of banned Basque party Batasuna to condemn violence, continuing street violence and pressure from the opposition Popular Party against dialogue with separatist group ETA.
ETA has killed 800 people in four decades of armed struggle for independence in the Basque region of northern Spain. The government announced the peace process in June, three months after the armed group declared a permanent ceasefire.
The government has yet to confirm talks with ETA have begun, after months of rising tensions due to regular nationalist low-level street violence in the Basque Country. Spanish newspapers continued to speculate at the weekend about when the government would sit down with ETA.
Right-wing daily El Mundo predicted a meeting in January. A senior official of the Basque wing of the ruling Socialist Party yesterday said the first meeting with ETA nearly took place in August but the separatist group called it off at the last minute.