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Socialist becomes Basque President

GUERNICA: A Socialist leader who has vowed to fight the armed separatist group ETA took the oath of office on Thursday as the Basque region’s first non-nationalist President. Patxi Lopez was sworn in President in this Basque town.

The Basque regional Parliament confirmed Mr. Lopez as President on Tuesday. He will lead a minority government with backing from mainstream conservatives, ending nearly 30 years of rule by Basque nationalists.

Mr. Lopez’s Socialists and the conservative Popular Party — archrivals in the rest of Spain — have formed a de facto alliance in the Basque country after inconclusive March 1 elections. He said he would respect a code giving the Basques special rights.

Mr. Lopez vowed this week to fight ETA “day in and day out” and said he was willing to “take risks” to achieve peace. Spain’s central government quickly clarified that renewed peace talks with the group were not planned.

ETA has killed more than 825 people since the late 1960s in its battle for an independent homeland. Rather than lay his hand on a Bible while reading the oath of office, as is the custom for Basque leaders, Mr. Lopez placed it on a copy of the Basque constitution, which was approved in 1979 and gave the region broad autonomy.— AP

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