The Diplomat
The Association of Spanish Diplomats (ADE) has issued a statement in which it describes as “disproportionate and unfair” some of the latest criticisms of the work carried out in Consulates and calls for greater resources for their proper functioning.
The communiqué alludes, without citing them, to some news items related to incidents that have occurred in several Consulates General. Among these news items is the one that took place at the Consulate in London, when a Spanish citizen waiting to collect a passport claimed to have been expelled from the premises after her two and a half year old daughter used her portable potty during the wait.
The Board of Directors of the ADE (JADE) describes as “disproportionate and unfair” some of the criticisms that have been made of the officials and staff working in Spain’s consular network abroad. “Recognising that every human structure is susceptible to mistakes, the JADE wishes to openly defend the dozens of men and women – diplomats, civil servants and staff – assigned to the Spanish Consulates who carry out their daily work with rigour, abnegation and professionalism, in circumstances that are often far from easy. A human group at the service of the nearly three million compatriots who today live abroad”.
The diplomats consider that the Spanish consular network “should be suitably reinforced and improved”. After pointing out that Spain is an open and fully internationalised country, they add: “We owe it to the millions of Spaniards who have temporarily or permanently left their country to settle abroad, and to whom we must provide the best possible assistance and protection”.
They go on to say that it is also necessary to “attend to and promote the enormous flow of economic, cultural, educational and other types of relations that take place on a daily basis, as well as the management of migratory flows”. Our wish and our commitment,” they stress, “is that the consular network can rise to these important challenges. In this regard, we encourage the adoption of concrete organisational, budgetary and administrative measures to modernise the functioning of the consular network and welcome with hope the current efforts, as well as the news of the European Recovery Funds which are announced to be earmarked for this purpose”.
Finally, the diplomats make a “call for reflection and action to the management team of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which we know is concerned about the situation, to the political parties, to the media and to public opinion in general so that this issue is addressed as a true question of State, due to its clear repercussions on the attention we owe our fellow citizens and the relevance it has for Spain’s general interests abroad”.
