Donostia-San Sebastián International Peace Conference announced "definitive cessation of its armed activity". They said they were ending their 43-year armed campaign for independence and called on Spain and France to open talks. The Spanish government insisted that it will not negotiate on demands for Basque self-determination until ETA disbands. Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero described ETA's announcement as "a victory for democracy, law and reason". Donostia-San Sebastián International Peace Conference The International Conference to Promote the Resolution of the Conflict in the Basque Country — more widely known as the Donostia-San Sebastián International Peace Conference — was a conference aimed at promoting a
Policy Network including; Chilean President, Michelle Bachelet in 2009; UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown in 2010; Norwegian Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg in 2011, and Irish Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore in 2012. Participants have included Brazilian presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; U.S. Vice President Joe Biden; Director-General of the World Trade Organization Pascal Lamy; and Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. The 2013 Progressive Governance conference was hosted by the Prime Minister of Denmark Helle Thorning-Schmidt in Copenhagen in April 2013. President Peter Mandelson, Baron Mandelson: Former UK first secretary of state, business secretary and EU Trade commissioner