Spanish government will not make any concessions to the Basque nationalist organization ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, or Basque Country and Freedom) in exchange for the likely disarmament, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said.

MADRID (Sputnik) – On Friday, Spanish media reported that ETA had announced its intention to disarm in a video message, made public by pro-independence Basque newspapers. Later, the Basque government said it believed ETA’s reported plans to disarm.

Also on Friday, an activist of Bizi! radical Basque group told French media that ETA was transferring responsibility for its disarmament to Bizi! and the process is to be completed by April 8.

“ETA has made its umpteenth announcement. [It] says that it is going to disarm … And they know, what they have to know, [namely], they will have nothing in return for nothing,” Rajoy said Saturday at the Popular Party’s (PP) meeting in the Basque Country.

Civilian intermediaries are expected to inform French judiciary about the locations of ETA’s arsenal and the International Verification Commission (IVC) will supervise the process of disarmament.

The ETA group, founded in 1959, operates in northern Spain and southwestern France. It is part of the Basque National Liberation Movement and its goal was to gain independence for the Greater Basque Country. Spain, the United Kingdom, France and the United States have branded it a terrorist organization.

The IVC was established in 2011, following ETA’s decision to announce a ceasefire. Over 800 deaths have been attributed to ETA’s activities since its foundation in 1959.