The Diplomat
The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, yesterday assured the Swedish ambassador, Teppo Tauriainen, and the Finnish ambassador, Sari Rautio, of his party’s support for NATO membership for both countries.
According to PP sources, Feijóo assured the diplomats that, in the event that the government of Pedro Sánchez is divided over the entry of Sweden and Finland into the Alliance, because the sector of Unidas Podemos votes against, they will be able to count on the votes of the main opposition party to obtain a parliamentary majority. The accession of new countries to NATO requires approval by member state governments and subsequent ratification by their national parliaments.
During the meeting at the PP’s national headquarters, Feijóo told the ambassadors that he was committed to “reinforcing cooperation to strengthen Euro-Atlantic defence and security”. “Stability and predictability must guide our decisions,” he wrote in a message on his Twitter account.
The information provided by the PP indicates that Feijóo and the ambassadors agreed that the European defence system should in no case be contrary or alternative to NATO, but complementary, and that the Alliance should reinforce its deployment in Eastern Europe.
In this sense, they “understand” that the European defence industry cannot be limited to the sphere of Franco-German industries, that other industries, such as Spain’s, should be supported, and that EU countries should be able to open up to the international market to buy defence material, according to the PP.
After the PP leader highlighted the importance for the PP of NATO establishing cooperation ties with South America, Feijóo and the ambassadors agreed on the need to maintain good relations between the Alliance and the countries of North Africa.
On this point, they stressed that it is necessary to keep an eye on the situation in the Maghreb, where there is an increasing Russian presence, and which “is becoming more dangerous every day as a result of illegal immigration movements, the presence of terrorist groups and drug trafficking”.
The meeting took place two days after the PP leader submitted a proposal to the government for a state pact on foreign policy and defence, in the framework of the NATO summit in Madrid. The PP reported yesterday that the proposal remains unanswered, which they consider to be a new deprecation on the part of the government.
