The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers will authorize today the preliminary draft of the International Cooperation Law, which will allow its approval in Parliament during the first half of 2022.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, assured last December 22 before the International Cooperation Commission of the Congress of Deputies that the Council of Ministers would give the green light to the draft bill before the end of the year 2021, something that should happen in the last meeting of the year, scheduled for December 28.
However, that Council of Ministers focused on two much more topical issues, such as the National Security Strategy and the reform of the labor market. For this reason, the press conference after the Council was given by the Second Vice-President of the Government and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, and by the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá, to the detriment of Albares himself, who had intended to explain the new law at the same press conference. It so happens that the draft bill of the International Cooperation Law appeared for a few moments in the references of the Council of Ministers on December 28, but was withdrawn almost immediately.
During his appearance before the Congress, Albares assured that the future Law of Cooperation for Sustainable Development and Global Solidarity, which will replace the current one of 1998, intends to carry out an “in-depth reform” of the Spanish Cooperation. According to the Minister, the Government’s objective is for the draft bill to reach the Parliament at the beginning of April so that it can be approved during the next session, which ends in June.
