Speech by President of the Government at event regarding cooperation between Spain and France on counter-terrorism

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

Prime Minister of the French Republic, Former Presidents of the Government, Felipe González, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero; former Vice-President of the Government, Alfredo Pérez-Rubalcaba, ministers, President of the Regional Government of the Basque Country Urkullu, President of the Constitutional Court, Ombudsman, leading figures in judicial and police matters and, above all, members of the groups of victims of terrorism, good afternoon and welcome to your home.

"We were so unorthodox that we dared to inconvenience the conscience of some people, to humanise the victims, to take an ethical stance on human rights and to respond peacefully to terrorist violence and its perpetrators. We were free in our commitment, as all those who decided to kill and embitter lives were free. We resisted and we won". Few words can say as much on a day like today. These words were spoken by Cristina Cuesta, founder of the civic movement 'Gesto por la Paz' [Gesture for Peace], the daughter of the Telefónica delegate in the Basque Country, Enrique Cuesta, murdered by the terrorist group ETA in 1982.

I want to begin my speech with a memory, with the voice of those who suffered the most from the terror in a time of silence and pain. Firstly, we resisted. And in the end, we won, as Cristina said. We won through a social and democratic State under the rule of law and through the commitment of the Basque and Spanish societies. We won because political consensus prevailed, founded on the unity of all democrats in opposition to those who perpetrate violence, against the imposition of ideas and a totalitarian project based on force, which is what ETA terrorism was. We won through forging meetings and institutional consensus between the Regional Government of the Basque Country and the Government of Spain. We won thanks to police and judicial effectiveness, through arresting the leaders, through dismantling administrative structures, through dismantling commando units and through sentencing its members. We won, to a great extent, because we were not alone in the fight, we had many European democracies on our side, particularly France, Mr Prime Minister.

Thanks to all of that Spanish democracy managed to defeat ETA. The triumph of our society shows us that paths should not exist that we cannot go down, in the same way as a path should never have existed to count the victims that our recent history was forced to add up.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have often had the opportunity in the daily exercise of my functions to reflect on what those years of lead, of violence, of silence, of a great deal of pain represented; above all for those who went before me in the responsibility I hold today. I have imagined the uncertainty and anguish of a phone call at dawn. The early warning of an attack, the anticipation of the pain. The useless harm caused by those who Vidal de Nicolás called "the prophets of nothing, the oracles of fear". That is why all my comprehension, gratitude and respect goes to all those presidents of the government in the democracy who made the triumph of reason over hate possible; the victory of our democracy over terror.

Today's event, ladies and gentlemen, pays tribute to the collaboration and cooperation between countries that fight under the mantle that supports the same cause - to offer visibility, which must be clearly stated, to the victory - to pay heartfelt tribute to the triumph of the victims and the social and democratic State under the rule of law.

Today, we sign off the end of a path that our society never wished to go down. And we do so with an event of tremendous symbolic value, the handover to Spain of the effects and documents seized from ETA in France during the years of our joint struggle. This material comes from some of the most significant counter-terrorism operations carried out by the French police in collaboration with the Spanish intelligence services. The handover of the "ETA files" to Spain, as they have become known in colloquial terms, symbolises, in my opinion, and according to the government and Spanish society, the success of the close collaboration between Spain and France. This handover is rightly baptised as a living memory.

And in this regard, I wish to expressly and particularly thank the work carried out over the course of these years by the judges Ms Davó and Ms Le Vert. Their work has been particularly valuable in strengthening collaboration between Spain and France in the fight against ETA. Spain will always be in debt to them. They represent the commitment by the French judiciary to liberty, democracy and the European construction. The perfect synthesis of everything we have achieved through this project that we call the European Union.

In my opinion, if someone wants a clear example of what the European project represents, here you have the best evidence of that, whereby solidarity, cooperation and the defence of liberty of our societies have risen over and above the old borders of the past.

Ladies and gentlemen, the handover, in my opinion, visualises, on the one hand, something very important: the barbarity of terrorism, but more importantly, the victory of democracy and the definitive dissolution of ETA and allows us also, in this regard, to shed light on crimes committed by the gang that are still to be judicially cleared up. And on the other hand, this contributes - and this is the most important aspect in my opinion, to dignify the memory of victims through the Memorial Centre. In this regard, the creation of the Memorial Centre Foundation for Victims of Terrorism, the resting place of the ETA files handed over by France, is and continues to be an absolute priority of the Government of Spain.

Remembrance; remembrance means much more than an act of respect. This is a moral imperative derived from the values that embody the victims of terrorism. Victims must be acknowledged by society and public institutions. As Javier Marrodán righty highlighted in his book entitled 'Relatos de Plomo' [Stories of Lead], a history of terrorism in Navarre, and I quote this textually, "The battle of the story is the thermometer that will measure the final defeat of ETA". And if the thermometer measures the final defeat, the commitments trace the common challenges that we can all read, such as crafting the story of 50 years of ETA terrorism. Crafting the true story. And I would dare to say, above all, for young people, who have not suffered from terrorist violence. This narrative belongs, above all, and particularly, to the victims. Not to the terrorists, or to those who supported the terrorists, but to the victims.

Last week at the General Assembly of the United Nations, I had the chance to address the international community in these terms, which I would like to reiterate today; we must be capable of building a narrative of remembrance and solidarity that incorporates the story of the victims of terrorism and reinforces the cohesion of our societies as a result of that.

If we look at the Preamble of the Law to Recognise and Support Victims of Terrorism, it textually states the following, "The dignity of a society is also measured by the dignity with which it protects those who have been victims of terrorist actions". This is a sentiment which we undoubtedly share with the French Government.

Today, I want to remember, rather than be tempted to not remember. And I want to do this through the profound and heartfelt tribute to the more than 800 people murdered. To the thousands of others injured and to all those families that have been broken, and others threatened, condemned to live under the dictatorship of fear.

Today the "ETA seals" are handed over. What we are not sealing today, and never will do, is our desire to remember, with respect and tremendous gratitude to those who suffered for liberty and for democracy in our country. To all the victims of terrorism.

I will end now, and I wish to do so by also thanking those who have made this event today possible by their hard work. Thank you to all those people in the judiciary and the police forces for their contribution to the handover of this material and in the fight against ETA. Thanks to the work of the State law enforcement agencies and all those members of the French police force for their commitment and collaboration. For laying down their lives for our countries and for peace and liberty.

Today even takes on a special form of symbolism, dear Prime Minister, of the figure of the last mortal victim of ETA, a French policeman - Jean-Serge Nérin - murdered in 2010. Prime Minister, we feel his death as if he were one of our own. And we vindicate his memory here today.

My thanks also go to all the judges that have acted as liaisons and intermediaries over all these years. Thanks to Basque society, to Spanish society and to French society for guaranteeing this victory over terror.

And particular thanks, many, many, many thanks to the victims of terrorism and their families. Thank you for your sacrifice, for your example and for your courage. In short, thank you for your dignity.

Marta Buesa, daughter of Fernando Buesa, murdered by ETA, said the following, "When I saw the news that ETA had announced the cessation of its armed activity, I broke down and cried tears of bitterness. In my mind, I saw the image of stretching out my arm back to the fatal day of 22 February 2000 and saying to my father, take my hand that I have brought here. Nothing will happen to you now. You are safe".

We cannot recover the lives we have lost, but we can recover and maintain their memory.

As a symbol of the peace reached, my thanks to the determination of the whole of society and the collaboration between Spain and France. This peace means the triumph of the victims and the triumph of Spanish democracy.

Thank you very much.

(Transcript edited by the State Secretariat for Communication)

Non official translation