The minister during the interview./ Picture: Antena 3
The Diplomat. Madrid
Yesterday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel García-Margallo, remembered that Spain lent 26,000 million euros to Greece as part of the European bailout and warned, therefore, that the Government cannot cancel a debt coming from “taxpayers’ money”, which forced the country to get into debt at a higher interest than that paid by Greece to its creditors, “which is really low”.
Besides, in statements made to the programme El espejo público of Antena 3, the minister affirmed that “anything happening in Greece is bad by definition” and urged the Government of Athens to present a “specific” proposal for negotiation “once and for all”, instead of “a different thing every day”, referring to the different Greek proposals, such as bonds linked to growth or permanent bonds where one only pays interests.
In his opinion, the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs can do “what he wants” in his “pilgrimage” to the European ministries of foreign affairs, but “he will finally have to meet the Eurogroup and the European Council to analyze a serious proposal”. He also remembered that the ‘troika’ supervising the countries that have been bailed out is made up of the European Commission, the ECB, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), three institutions to which Greece owes money and with which it will have to negotiate.
The Government studies appealing the opening of Catalan embassies in Vienna and Rome
On the other hand, Margallo warned that the Government could appeal, through the contentious-administrative channel, the possible opening of Catalan embassies in Vienna and Rome, which “goes against the Spanish law on Foreign Policy” and remembered that the Catalan Government has the obligation to inform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the opening of any delegation abroad. The Government has until 28 February to lodge the appeal.
The minister also announced that the Executive is studying the constitutionality of the Catalan law on Foreign Policy. In this case, the Government has three months, starting on the publication date of the law, which was 11 December, to lodge an appeal.
