Every Spanish prime minister has harboured ambitions of bringing lasting peace to the Basque country, but José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero stands a better chance than his predecessors.

In the course of Eta’s 38-year violent struggle for an independent Basque state, there have been six indefinite or temporary ceasefires and at least two known attempts at peace negotiations – by Felipe González in 1989 in Algiers, and by José María Aznar in 1999 in Switzerland.