Basques renew fight for EU voice as Spain takes over presidency

Spain's takeover of the EU presidency was overshadowed by its own problems in the Basque country yesterday, as police geared up to counter possible threats from the armed separatist group Eta and a row intensified about whether Basques should be given their own voice in Brussels.

As the Spanish prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, flew home from Brussels, his ministers accused regional nationalists who run the Basque government of deliberately spoiling the takeover party for the six-month presidency .

The deputy Basque regional premier, Idoia Zenarruzabeitia, claimed that Mr Aznar had pledged to ensure that Basques had a place at the bargaining table in Brussels. "They have six months," she warned.

But Spain's finance minister, Cristobal Montoro, complained: "Instead of retiring their demand to be in the EU, they have hardened it."

The Basque government called an emergency meeting yesterday to debate the matter.

The Basque Nationalist party, which runs the government, has occasionally claimed that the region should be treated as a separate EU state. Now it has demanded that Spain treat it in the same way that federal Germany treats its länder, allowing Basques a say in any European negotiations that might affect tax.

The Basque government, which has a special tax agreement with Madrid, fears that powers devolved to it are being taken over by Brussels.

Problems concerning the region threaten to affect the Spanish presidency in other, uglier ways at a series of high-profile EU summits when Eta, together with al-Qaida, will be a major security headache.

The first of these summits will be in Barcelona in March, when EU prime ministers will discuss economic reform.

An Eta unit sent to the city last summer - but captured by police - had been given orders to stage attacks that would disrupt that meeting.

One of Mr Aznar's main priorities during the presidency will be to boost cooperation on terrorism. The prime minister, who has been offered help from America's electronic surveillance systems in the fight against Eta, is expected to back any further US action against countries allegedly harbouring al-Qaida units.

Spain's other main priorities during the presidency will be to ensure a smooth run-in for the euro and to keep on track the timetable for European expansion.

Senior Spanish EU officials have said that they will try to stop member states threatening to derail the expansion process in order to wring more money out of Brussels, or to reduce contributions.

But they have not said whether Spain will set an example by saying it is happy to lose the regional funds that will dry up when a flood of eastern European countries join the EU.

But the biggest project of all is the Barcelona summit. Mr Aznar, with the backing of Tony Blair, aims to add new impetus to the pan-European economic reforms agreed in Lisbon two years ago.

The two prime ministers hope to use Barcelona to whip into line countries such as France that are dragging their feet on deregulation and on opening up their economies to competition from other member states.

With France due to hold its presidential election in April and May and parliamentary elections in June, however, they are likely to have an uphill struggle.

Spain and Britain are also hoping that a series of summits with the US, Canada and Latin American countries in May will allow them to secure new trade deals for the EU.

Spain will also press on with its attempts to promote stability in the Mediterranean by adding new impetus to an agreement signed in Barcelona by EU leaders during the last Spanish presidency. The deal is meant to create an open market for countries around the Mediterranean within a decade.