Aznar accuses Basque moderates of seeking secession

PALMA DE MALLORCA, Balearic Islands, Aug 5 (AFP) - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar on Tuesday accused moderate Basque nationalists of seeking to secede from Spain.

Speaking from his holiday base at Palma de Mallorca Aznar said the Basque parliament's draft proposal for a free association with Spain amounted to "a project of secession, of confrontation to eliminate much of Basque society."

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A draft of the project was published in the media on July 23, and is due be considered by the Basque autonomous parliament before the end of the year.

Aznar was speaking following his traditional early August meeting with King Juan Carlos I, who also spends much of August on Mallorca.

Aznar further accused Basque moderates of "submitting to terrorism" by, in his view, failing to denounce violence by the armed separatist group ETA.

The group last weekend claimed responsibility for five recent bomb attacks, including two against hotels in the tourist resorts of Alicante and Benidorm on July 22.

Aznar said his government supported the status quo on relations between the Madrid national government and the Basque regional administration, and vowed to maintain the Basque country's autonomous status as approved in a 1979 referendum.

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