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RFI did a review of the French press this morning (in French). Liberation front paged with "ETA, the general truce: The Basque separatist movement has declared a "permanent" cease fire, starting tomorrow, opening the road to a dialogue with the Spanish government. Madrid proceeds with caution". Other papers mention the news but it seems the front-page headlines of print editions of many have more on the continued saga of the CPE than on ETA. Le Figaro has a short piece on it's front page, Le monde does not mention it on the front page and both headline on the CPE. For French readers Le Monde's latest online article on ETA is here. The more local Sud Ouest paper headlines with the ETA cease fire on their web site (I don't have access to the print version). Le Journal du Pays Basque, affiliated with the Gara  newspaper, headlines with "ETA Cease fire" and an article on "'a great hope for peace' for Paris and Madrid".

BTW just FYI for anyone interested one source for some world newspaper front pages is the news museum.

by Alexandra in WMass (alexandra_wmass[a|t]yahoo[d|o|t]fr) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 12:11:24 PM EST
Thanks for this.

The Basque separatists like to treat Spain and France on an equal footing in their rhetoric because they'd like to get the French Basque provinces (now inside the département of Pyrenées Atlantiques), but the French government will obviously not bite.

They also want Navarra. The Navarran regional president reacted to the ceasefire by saying it was great news but that "Navarra must not be a token of exchange".

Lots of hope, but ETA is also in for some disappointment. Could be called 'a reality check', too.

guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 12:21:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Btw, did you know that the expression "de France et de Navarre" is still employed today, quite commonly even? ("of France and of Navarre", to refer to an administrative whole)

I heard it again the other day in parliament when watching the DADVSI debates! Some député was saying something like: "nowhere on the territory of France and of Navarre will anyone be able to make private copies".

I believe it comes from around the time when Navarr(e/a) was an independent kingdom and was ruled jointly with France by Henri III (de Navarre).

by Alex in Toulouse on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 12:34:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Henri IV sorry
I think it stuck up to the revolution (ie. Louis XIV an co were all King of France and of Navarre)
by Alex in Toulouse on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 12:35:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, I believe Baisse-Navarre is part of France, isn't it? Otherwise, DADVSI is going to get France into even more international legal trouble ;-)

Believe it or not, I only learnt that the (protestant) King of Navarre was King of France in the 17th century when I saw La Reine Margot years ago.

guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 12:37:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I fully believe you, in fact I only corrected myself here above when I remembered that Daniel Auteuil was Henry IV and not III, in that movie.

The expression indeed comes from Henry IV as I checked on Wikipedia and saw that the title "King of France and of Navarre" starts with him and indeed stays up to the revolution.

I just find it incredible that it's still used today. You stumble upon it here and there.

I mean it wouldn't even be a valid expression if Navarre was only in France, as that would make it redundant. And since Navarre is not only in France, it makes the expression somewhat imperialistic!

by Alex in Toulouse on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 12:44:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, he was Henri III de Navarre et IV de France.

guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 12:52:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Ahhh so I get a B+!

I googled the exact expression "de France et de Navarre" and it returned 228 000 hits:

(a bunch of historical hits) and hits such as...

"list of hotels of France and of Navarre"
"librarians of France and of Navarre"
"message to islamists of France and of Navarre"

etc etc

Basically it's still used outside of purely historical applications.

by Alex in Toulouse on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 12:57:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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