The king spoke about ETA - Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, an armed Basque nationalist separatist organization – detonating a bomb at Madrid’s Barajas Airport last year, which killed two people and injured a further 26.
He also mentioned ETA’s recent killing of the two Guardia Civil officers in the south of France, which they claim was revenge for Spanish police hunting down ETA militants.
In the speech broadcast on Christmas Eve (24.12.07), he said: “We need a culture of unity against terrorism. “This unity is an urgent objective for the country, the citizens' will, an obligation for all the democratic parties and a must regarding the victims, whom we remember with our greatest affection these days'. “The countries who attend to the wishes of their citizens with most efficiency are those where the democratic model and institutions are based on solidity and stability, and those who show a wide internal cohesion regarding the larger questions.
Speaking from the Zarzuela Palace, the 69-year-old monarch also asked political parties in Spain to make a bigger effort to support people who are suffering and needy – specifically mentioning the fights against poverty, unemployment and the rising cost of houses.