Eta attacks cost Spain billions

By Katya Adler
BBC News, Madrid

Eta has used a range of tactics including killings and car bombs

Attacks by armed Basque separatists Eta have cost the Spanish economy almost 8bn euros (£5.6bn) over the last decade, a government report says.

The report was commissioned by senior anti-terror Judge Baltasar Garzon.

As well as the physical damage caused by Eta's violent campaign, the report includes costs generated by increased security and compensation payments.

It also includes pensions for bereaved families, bodyguard fees, and extra prison space for detained Eta members.

But the biggest single cost incurred since the start of Eta's campaign in the late 1960s is, according to the report, the 3.4bn euro bill to freeze the Lemoniz nuclear power plant project, following Eta's kidnapping and killing of one of the plant's engineers in 1981.

The report - published by the daily El Pais - says the real cost to Spain's economy is far greater than the published figures, because the country suffers from reduced levels of private investment as a result of the Eta threat.

Eta has been blamed for more than 800 deaths in its drive to form an independent Basque homeland.

Its attacks are estimated to have cost the Basque region alone between 9% and 10% of its gross domestic product over the last 10 years.

The Eta costs report was drawn up by more than a dozen Spanish government institutes.