Saturday marks a year since ETA's end to its armed campaign

This Saturday marks a year since the Basque armed group ETA issued a statement saying it was ending its 43-year armed campaign for independence and called on Spain and France to open talks.

The group made the announcement to the Basque daily Gara, which it regularly uses as a mouthpiece. ETA had declared a permanent cease-fire in January, but up to that moment had not renounced armed struggle as a tool for achieving an independent Basque state.

"ETA has decided the definitive cease of its armed activity," the group said in the statement. "ETA calls upon the Spanish and French governments to open a process of a direct dialogue with the aim of addressing the resolution of the consequences of the conflict."

The announcement came just three days after several international figures, including former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Ireland's Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, attended a conference on ETA in the Basque city of San Sebastian and called on the group to end the violence.

A resolution read at the end of the three-hour conference called upon ETA "to make a public declaration of the definitive cessation of all armed action and to request talks with the governments of Spain and France to address exclusively the consequences of the conflict".

The statement, which was read out by former Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern, also said steps should be taken toward reconciliation and compensating victims of the Basque conflict.

The Spanish government and leading opposition conservative Popular Party did not attend the gathering in the Basque city of San Sebastian. They insist ETA must simply abandon arms and dissolve.

Since then, both the Spanish and French Governments have said they want ETA to completely disarm and have rejected any kind of negotiation with the armed group.

A newly formed leftist Basque party which wants independence from Spain by peaceful means, meanwhile won an astounding seven seats in Nov. 20 parliamentary elections and surpassed Basque nationalists PNV. This party and several minor parties are standing together under the name of EH Bildu in this weekend's Basque vote and are predicted to be the second party with most votes.

The election, mostly marked by the financial crisis and the highest unemployment figures ever, has also been the first vote in ETA's absence.