Juan Jose Ibarretxe

Spain can learn from the lessons of Northern Ireland, the Basque president, Juan Jose Ibarretxe, has said.

In an interview with ePolitix.com, Ibarretxe says both sides of the divide in Spain should examine how dialogue managed to overcome considerable obstacles in the province.

Whilst the Northern Ireland assembly is still suspended, unionists and republicans are engaged in negotiations with the British and Irish governments in a bid to overcome the current difficulties.

Reflecting on events in Belfast, Ibarretxe says: "Dialogue is the true key element that is going to help us solve problems and conflicts in the 21st century.

"And really, the process in Northern Ireland, if there is something we can learn from it, it is precisely the road of dialogue, the advancement of communication is the main starting point to actually make progress and reach solutions."

But the Basque leader warns that it would be unwise for his country to follow the British in releasing paramilitary prisoners.

Asked if he backed a release programme, he said: "I ought to say that sometimes we are tempted - through pure good will and the wish to fix things - to try to apply magic recipes - because that is what bad economists and bad politicians have done throughout history."

"They have taken a magic recipe from a different place and from a different time and tried to transfer that to one's own situation and country at a different time. I am convinced that we are going to have to apply our own model to solve our own problems."