The war isn't over, but politics has become the preferred weapon of radical Basque nationalism. The aim of a unified, independent Basque Country can now be pursued effectively by democratic means. If Madrid (and Paris) were to make a "Downing Street Declaration", a commitment not to obstruct the democratically expressed will of the Basque people, there would be no return to violence.
That was the essential message brought to Dublin this week by two members of the national committee of Herri Batasuna. This party is widely regarded as the political wing of ETA, the group which has conducted a 30-year violent campaign in pursuit of an independent Basque Country, costing 800 lives. Last month, ETA called an "indefinite ceasefire", as part of a peace process based on the Irish model.
Ms Ester Agirre and Mr Loren Arkotxa are new faces in the HB leadership, since the previous national committee was jailed for "collaboration with terrorism" last December. At that time the situation in the Basque Country, which straddles the north-west Pyrenees, seemed to hold out little hope of evolving along Northern Irish lines.
ETA and HB were pursuing a strategy rather terrifyingly expressed as "the socialisation of suffering". This involved sabotage against moderate nationalists, who were reasonably content with the self-government ceded by Madrid, and an assassination campaign against conservative local councillors.
It seemed the opposite of the convergent Hume/Adams talks, and pushed the region to the brink of full-scale civil conflict. So how did the peace process begin?
"Our strategy was misunderstood," says Ms Agirre. "It did involve a high level of struggle, but it also involved behind-the-scenes dialogue with many groups, especially trade unions." She also says there was a "point of reflection" for the radicals when they experienced the furious public response to ETA's killing of a local councillor, Miquel Angel Blanco, in July 1997.
She complains that nationalists suffered street attacks at the time. Surely this was the inevitable result of their own violence?
She smiles, relaxes and concedes: "None of us behaved like Little Sisters of Charity. We all have some responsibility for what happened." It sounds like a peace process really is happening. That sort of response wasn't part of the HB script in the past. She also recognises the need to build bridges with those Basques whose first loyalty is to Spain. She explicitly rejects the old nationalist dogma that the only genuine Basque is a Basque nationalist.
Deeply influenced by visitors like Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Albert Reynolds, HB and the moderate nationalists started a series of secret meetings late last year. They set up the "Irish Forum", which grouped together two-thirds of Basque regional deputies. The forum produced the Declaration of Lizarra on September 12th, which essentially called for recognition of a Basque right to self-determination. ETA's ceasefire followed four days later.
Ms Agirre and Mr Arkotxa say that there can be considerable flexibility in the way this right is exercised. Non-negotiable bottom lines seem to have vanished. The Basque Country is currently split into three territorial units, two in Spain and one in France. They are prepared to envisage parallel referenda in the existing units, along the lines of those that followed the Belfast Agreement, and insist that HB and ETA will abide by the democratic results. They recognise that this will be long process, particularly in France, but they believe that ETA will maintain their ceasefire, if there is a minimally positive response.
"The war is not over now, but I think it would be if Madrid and Paris would recognise, like Britain did at Downing Street in the Irish case, that it has no selfish interest in the Basque Country," says Ms Agirre. "I have enormous confidence in ETA's maturity in the new situation," says Mr Arkotxa. He had joked earlier about having to learn to dress like a diplomat. He has already learned to speak like one. Elections in the Basque Country on October 25th will be the first test of how well the new line goes down at home.