EU "can only regret and condemn ETA's position in this situation"

EU Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso on Tuesday condemned the armed Basque separatist group ETA's decision to call off its 15-month-old ceasefire.

"President Barroso believes that one can only regret and condemn ETA's position in this situation," said European Commission spokesperson Pia Ahrenkilde in Brussels.

"He believes that violence will not help anybody and that it must be met with the full force of law," Ahrenkilde said, adding that Barroso "expresses the Commission's full solidarity with the constitutional and democratic institutions of Spain".

ETA called off the ceasefire in a statement sent to two Basque newspapers on Tuesday, formalising what many saw as the demise of a once-promising peace process.

Joaquin Almunia, the European Commission member in charge of economic and monetary affairs, also condemned ETA's move on Tuesday, saying it proved the group was determined to continue violence.

"ETA continues to wish to kill and to put pressure on the democratic institutions and on citizens' free will," the commissioner from Spain said.