The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, acknowledged yesterday that it is going to be very difficult for peace to return to Ukraine before the Spanish Presidency of the EU, in the second half of 2023.
During the closing ceremony of the CIDOB International Yearbook 2022 The Geopolitics of Reglobalisation, held in Barcelona, the minister assured that Spain is going to make “a firm commitment” during the Spanish Presidency to ensure that “peace returns to Ukraine as soon as possible” and, therefore, “that peace returns to Europe”. In any case, he admitted, “there is nothing to suggest” that Vladimir Putin’s Russian regime will put an end to the war before the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU.
At the same event, in which he participated by videoconference, Albares affirmed that Spain can play the role of “bridge of dialogue with the global south” and with other regions of the planet during the EU Presidency. The Minister also assured that during the European semester the energy crisis will be addressed, in which Spain is already exercising “European leadership” on issues such as the creation of a single European market and the establishment of a cap on gas prices, and an EU-CELAC summit of European and Latin American leaders will be held at which “a work and financing program will emerge so that Europe will never again turn its back on Latin America”.
