The Spanish government has said it will not enter into talks with ETA until the Basque terrorist group lays its arms to rest.
The Deputy Prime Minister, Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, said the government wants a ceasefire and an outright condemnation of terrorist activity before Madrid will consider entering into talks.
Her comments followed suggestions made earlier this week that the armed group was willing to negotiate a ceasefire.
A ceasefire was last declared in 1998 but the Basque separatists returned to violence once again 14 months later, saying the government of the conservative leader Jose Maria Aznar was too repressive.
This is the first time the organisation has talked of a ceasefire since Socialist Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero came to power last March.
