Editing ETA (separatist group) (section)

==French role==
Historically, members of ETA took refuge in France, particularly the [[French Basque Country]]. The leadership typically chose to live in France for security reasons, where police pressure was much less than in Spain.<ref name="telegraph">{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/1386545/Payback-for-Eta-in-the-Pays-Basque.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/1386545/Payback-for-Eta-in-the-Pays-Basque.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |title=Payback for Eta in the Pays Basque|first=Isambard|last=Wilkinson|date=2 March 2002|access-date=27 March 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Accordingly, ETA's tactical approach had been to downplay the issue of independence of the French Basque country so as to get French acquiescence for their activities. The [[French government]] quietly tolerated the group, especially during [[Francoist Spain|Franco's regime]], when ETA members could face the death penalty in Spain. In the 1980s, the advent of the [[Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación|GAL]] still hindered [[counter-terrorist]] cooperation between France and Spain, with the French government considering ETA a Spanish domestic problem. At the time, ETA members often travelled between the two countries using the French sanctuary as a base of operations.<ref>[http://www.france24.com/en/20080926-spain-basque-separatism-batasuna-eta Spain looks to France for help against Basque separatists]. France24 (26 September 2008). Retrieved on 30 January 2011.</ref>

With the disbanding of the GAL, the French government changed its position on the matter and in the 1990s initiated the ongoing period of active cooperation with the Spanish government against ETA,{{cn|date=April 2024}} including fast-track transfers of detainees to Spanish tribunals that are regarded as fully compliant with [[European Union]] legislation on human rights and the legal representation of detainees. Virtually all of the highest ranks within ETA –including their successive "military", "political" or finances chiefs – have been captured in French territory, from where they had been plotting their activities after having crossed the border from Spain.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

In response to the new situation, ETA carried out attacks against French policemen and made threats to some French judges and prosecutors. This implied a change from the group's previous low-profile in the French Basque Country, which successive ETA leaders had used to discreetly manage their activities in Spain.<ref name="telegraph"/>