Vitoria, Spain  - The 29-year rule of Basque nationalists in the troubled northern Spanish region was coming to an end Wednesday as the region's socialists and conservatives signed a historic agreement allowing socialist leader Patxi Lopez to become regional prime minister.

The deal signed at the Basque parliament in the regional capital Vitoria sought to unite Basque society and to favour political pluralism, socialist representatives said.

Lopez will be the first Basque premier defending the region's unity with Spain since it was granted a wide autonomy in 1979, following the death of Spain's dictator Francisco Franco four years earlier.

The region had been governed since then by the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), which seeks an increasing measure of self-government, if not independence, from Spain.

The PNV took the most votes in the March 1 elections, but together, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's socialists and the conservative People's Party (PP) have an absolute majority in the 75-member regional parliament.

The socialists and conservatives are fierce rivals on the national level, but joined forces to stamp out radical separatism in the Basque region.

Lopez will govern without forming an official coalition with the conservatives, whose representative Arantza Quiroga will become president of the regional parliament.

The change of government was seen as signalling a new political orientation for the region beset with the violence of the militant separatist group ETA, which has killed more than 820 people since 1968.

A non-nationalist government was expected to toughen police crackdowns on ETA, to prohibit public tributes to its members and radio and television coverage of related groups.

The new government will also allow schoolchildren to study mainly in Spanish, stopping a programme aimed at Basque becoming the main educational language.

ETA is classified as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States. (dpa)