The Diplomat
Whether or not Spanish candidates are elected to high positions at the international level does not depend only on the influence or prestige of Spain, according to the Government, which promises to continue promoting this type of candidatures.
This is how the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, EU and Cooperation expresses itself in a parliamentary response to Vox presented after the Minister of Science, Pedro Duque, was not elected last December to head the European Space Agency (ESA), despite the fact that his candidacy was “particularly promoted and supported by the Government”.
Santiago Abascal’s followers argue in their question that “this latest failure is added to other failed attempts to place Spanish ministers in various international institutions” citing the specific cases of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Eurogroup.
For the first of these posts, there was talk of the candidacy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, while in the second of the cases the Minister of Economy, Nadia Calviño, lost to her Irish counterpart, Paschal Donohoe.
Thus, Vox asked the Government if it was considering reviewing its foreign action taking into account these “failures” and specifically if it was considering “a change in diplomacy with respect to Spanish participation in various international organizations of which it is a member”.
In addition, the Vox deputies were interested in knowing “what concrete measures the Government intends to adopt in order to strengthen Spain’s influence in the different international organizations”.
The Government, however, “does not share the vision” that Vox expressed in its question. In its parliamentary response, to which Europa Press had access, argues that “Spain has achieved very notable international successes in the last year, among which undoubtedly stands out having managed to promote an unprecedented European mobilization against the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic”.
As regards the “success or failure of the candidacies to different international positions”, the Executive defends, “it obeys to an accumulation of reasons and balances that not only have to do with the prestige or influence of a country”.
In any case, the Government as a whole, but above all the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stresses the reply, “will always continue to support the presentation of rigorous and well-founded Spanish candidacies to positions of relevance”.
