MADRID, May 17 (UPI) -- Spanish lawmakers decided Tuesday to initiate new talks with the Basque separatist group ETA, providing the organization disarms.
Most members of the lower house of Parliament agreed to approve talks with ETA, with the exception of the opposition center-right Popular Party, El Mundo reported in its online edition.
The PP leadership said talks would be akin to surrendering to terrorists. The Spanish government considers ETA a terrorist group.
Spain's socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who initiated the call for talks with ETA, has repeatedly called for the group to lay down its arms and end its four-decade war with the Spanish government.
ETA has been blamed for more than 800 deaths during that time. Four bombs exploded in Spain's Basque region Sunday, injuring three people. Spanish authorities blamed ETA for the incident.
