The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, assured yesterday, in the margins of the Foreign Affairs meeting of the Council of Europe, that Spain “supports the aspirations of Ukraine” to join the European Union, only two days after dodging a request of the PP in the same sense in the Congress of Deputies.
“Spain supports Ukraine’s aspirations to be a candidate”, the minister declared to the EFE news agency shortly after the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, held in Turin (Italy). Last Wednesday, the spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs of the Popular Parliamentary Group, Valentina Martinez, demanded Albares, on the floor of the Congress, to commit himself to support Ukraine’s candidacy to the EU at the next European Council in June. In his answer, Albares avoided this issue and criticized the “disloyalty” of the PP in foreign policy.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymir Zelenski, has repeatedly asked for European support for his country’s accession to the EU after the Russian invasion. On March 11, the informal European Council recognized Ukraine’s European option and asked the Commission to submit its opinion on the application for EU membership in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Treaties. In any case, for the time being there is no unanimity among the European partners on the use of the urgent procedure for Ukraine’s accession, which only eight countries (Bulgaria, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic) have expressly supported. The Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid has repeatedly requested Spain’s “explicit” support for the candidacy.
Council of Europe Foreign Affairs Committee condemns Russia
Albares participated yesterday in the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe, whose members, he assured EFE, are “very aware” that its pillars “are at stake” and that is why there is “clear support” for a “free, sovereign and democratic” Ukraine.
At the end of the meeting, the ministers of the 46 member states (Russia was expelled on March 15) condemned “all violations of human rights and international law by Russia, including attacks against the civilian population and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and cultural and religious heritage”, and called on Moscow “to immediately cease its aggression, withdraw its occupying forces from Ukrainian territory and release all abducted civilians”.
They also pledged to “mobilize the full capacity of the Council of Europe to ensure the full accountability of the Russian Federation for the human rights violations committed.” “Russia bears sole responsibility for depriving persons under its jurisdiction of the protection afforded by the European Convention on Human Rights,” warned the Committee of Ministers, which announced “an adjusted Action Plan for Ukraine (2018-2022) with measures to protect displaced persons, support legal professionals, advise on the European Convention on Human Rights, document human rights violations, protect children’s rights, combat violence against women and human trafficking, protect vulnerable groups, including Roma, prevent discrimination, and support Ukrainian media and the judiciary.”
In addition, the Irish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, took over the rotating chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe from the outgoing chairman, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Luigi Di Maio.
Bilateral meetings
Taking advantage of his presence in Turin, Albares met with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejcinovic Buric, and the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the organization, Tiny Kox. He also held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Germany, Annalena Baerbok (with whom he discussed “the NATO Summit in Madrid, Ukraine and the southern flank in NATO’s strategic concept,” as reported on his official Twitter account), Armenia, Ararat Mirzoyan; Azeirbayán, Djeyhun Bayramov; Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs; Croatia, Gordan Grlić Radman; and Slovenia, Anže Logar.
