Catalonia is undergoing profound changes – particularly with respect to its class boundaries and defining elements of identity – which are prompting the development of a new Catalan identity.

It is time for the local, regional and state-wide political leadership to recognise the maturity of local civil society and afford it a lead-role in the resolution of the Basque conflict and all aspects that surround it – such as the issue of prisoners, the victims of terrorism, political legitimacy and even the right to repentance.

The Spanish government should immediately establish contacts with ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna); not because it owes ETA anything, but because Basque society wants the irreversibility of the end of violence to be guaranteed through the disarmament and dismantling of ETA’s structures.