MADRID, March 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Most Spaniards want the government to open formal talks with ETA after a permanent ceasefire by the Basque separatist group came into effect at midnight on Thursday, an opinion poll said on Sunday.

    About 68.4 percent of Spaniards said the government should open dialogue with ETA, according to the poll released by the newspaper El Mundo.

    ETA's cease-fire, declared on Wednesday, came into force right after midnight on Thursday, ushering in hopes that the group might end its decades-long violent campaign for independence for the Basque region of northern Spain and southwestern France.

    Over three-quarters of those polled said they would be happy for the government to discuss a handover of weapons, and 55 percent believed it should be prepared to negotiate over the return to Spain of ETA exiles living abroad.

    But 62.9 percent of those polled disagreed that the government should discuss self-determination for the Basque region.

    Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said on Friday that the ETA ceasefire was just the first step toward the final settlement of the issue.

    The Spanish government on Thursday welcomed the truce pledge, but said it would not hold talks with the separatist organization unless the latter made good its ceasefire promise.

    ETA, a Basque acronym meaning "Basque Homeland and Liberty," is blamed for more than 800 killings since it began fighting for an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwestern France in 1968. Enditem