MADRID, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero stressed Wednesday the country was well-prepared for a 'battle' against ETA following a bombing blamed on the armed Basque separatist group.

Zapatero, speaking to the Senate, condemned Tuesday's car bomb that seriously wounded the bodyguard of a local politician in the city of Bilbao in Spain's northern Basque Country.

He appealed for unity among the political parties to reach 'the common objective of all democracies: to see violence disappear, overcome terror, threats and force.'

MADRID, Sept 30, 2007 (AFP) - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luiz Rodriguez Zapatero on Sunday rejected plans by the government of the Basque Country to hold a referendum on the northeastern region's future.

The leader of the Basque regional government, moderate nationalist Juan Jose Ibarretxe, on Friday unveiled plans to hold the vote on October 25, 2008 as part of his 'road map' for a new political framework with Spain.