Eduardo González
For the second consecutive year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published yesterday a certainly flattering balance of its own management throughout 2022, a year marked by “Russia’s aggression against Ukraine”, a “successful NATO Summit from which emerged the new outline of priorities in defense, security and organization of the Atlantic Alliance for the next ten years” and the “new relationship with Morocco”.
According to the Department headed by José Manuel Albares, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has focused a good part of the diplomatic activity during this 2022. “Since the invasion, in the early hours of February 24, diplomatic efforts have multiplied to strengthen unity in the face of Vladimir Putin’s aggression, both from the point of view of the defense of Ukraine and humanitarian aid to citizens in that country and to the millions of people displaced by the war”, the Ministry assures in a press release corresponding to the Accountability Report of the Government of Spain-Compliance, presented last Tuesday.
In the course of the year, it continues, “Minister Albares visited Ukraine twice: the first, a few days before the Russian invasion, and the second, at the beginning of November”. On the latter trip, the minister met with President Volodimir Zelensky, Prime Minister Dennis Shmygal, and the Prosecutor General of Ukraine. He also met with his counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, with whom he has had almost permanent contact throughout this year, both in Kiev and in the margins of international forums and through telephone conversations.
Foreign Affairs also recalls that “Madrid was the scene of another of the diplomatic milestones of the year: the NATO Summit meeting”, in which a total of 14 presidents, 21 prime ministers, the President of the European Commission, the NATO Secretary General and 52 foreign and defense ministers took part. During the meeting, held between June 29 and 30, the “Madrid Concept” was developed, a new Strategic Concept of the Alliance that includes, “for the first time and at Spain’s request”, references to the Southern Flank and identifies new security threats such as cybercrime, illegal immigration, the effects of climate change and hybrid threats.
According to the Ministry, the Madrid Summit “was a complete success in terms of organization, logistics and results” thanks to the “diplomatic work prior to the leaders’ meetings in Madrid”, which “allowed strengthening Euro-Atlantic unity and paved the way for both the accession of new partners and the approval of the new Strategic Concept”. In addition, according to Albares’ Department, “from the point of view of Spain’s image, its role as a leading actor on the international scene was reinforced, with leadership capacity and whose voice is listened to attentively in international forums for its proposals and initiatives in favor of unity in the face of aggressions, the defense of democracy, freedom and multilateralism”.
In this new stage, according to Foreign Affairs, “Spain counts on the United States as a strong and stable ally, as was made clear during the visit to Spain of the President of the United States.” “Last June 28, after 21 years without Spain and the United States having updated their relationship,” U.S. President Joe Biden and President of Government Pedro Sánchez “signed a new Joint Statement that will further strengthen the strategic relationship between the two countries.
In that Joint Statement, the two countries committed to increase from four to six the number of US destroyers at the Rota base (Cadiz). Both this agreement and the Government’s decision to increase defense spending by 2%, in line with what was decided during the NATO Summit in Madrid and by the leaders of the European Union after the invasion of Ukraine, were widely rejected by the Government’s minority partner, Unidas Podemos. Sánchez and Albares have insisted at all times, in reference to Unidas Podemos, that the Executive has a single voice in matters of foreign and security policy and that the decisions in this regard ultimately correspond to the President of the Government.
Foreign Affairs also highlights the entry into force of the Dual Nationality Agreement between Spain and France, “the first of its kind outside the Ibero-American sphere” and which “settles a historical debt with the Republican exile, while improving the rights of French citizens residing in Spain and Spaniards living in France”.
The new stage with Morocco
The report inevitably assesses the new stage of relations between Spain and Morocco following the unprecedented and surprising decision of the Spanish government to endorse the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara. Obviously, no mention is made of the consequent serious diplomatic crisis with Algeria, Spain’s main gas supplier. Nor is there any allusion to the controversy that broke out in the middle of the year over Morocco’s possible involvement in the spying on Spanish politicians (the Pegasus case), an issue that Albares has tried to evade at all times with the argument that “international relations are based on facts, not conjecture”.
“With the signing of the Joint Declaration with which Spain and Morocco decided to relaunch their relationship, April 7, 2022 was marked on the calendar of Spanish diplomacy,” the Ministry assures. “From that date, a roadmap towards the normalization of relations between the two countries began to develop,” it continues. “By the end of the year, all the working groups which, in some cases, had not met for 15 years, were fully active and producing results,” it adds.
As a result of this new relationship, according to Foreign Affairs, “irregular migration coming from Africa is the one that has been most reduced in all of Europe, and commercial exchanges have been progressively recovering, reaching the levels prior to the rupture of the relationship between the two countries.” “That roadmap will receive a new impetus in a few weeks with the High Level Meeting (RAN), which will be held in Morocco and will place the relationship between the two countries in a new dimension,” it adds.
Cooperation Law, the new headquarters and the Spanish Presidency
The rest of the report is devoted to Spain’s “solidarity diplomacy”, which “will acquire the status of law through Spanish Cooperation”. In this regard, the report recalls that the Law on Cooperation for Sustainable Development and Global Solidarity is “about to see its legislative process completed” and will be “definitively approved by Congress in the first weeks of 2023”.
Likewise, the report recalls that King Philip VI and Minister José Manuel Albares inaugurated on January 20 of this year the new headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, located in Madrid’s Plaza del Marqués de Salamanca and with a capacity for 1,300 people. “From this new headquarters, work has already begun on what will be the great event in EU policy for Spain: the Presidency of the EU”, the communiqué continues.
As it could not be less, the balance concludes with references to the next Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU, which will take place in the second half of 2023 and that “Albares has defined on several occasions as ‘a country project’ that aims to involve all the autonomous communities and also wants to get closer to the citizen”. According to the Ministry, “Russia’s aggression against Ukraine will mark a Presidency in which Foreign Affairs will work to achieve a stronger and more united Europe.” “Another objective will be to consolidate the main lines of action that Spain has helped to shape: ecological transition, digital transformation and Social Pillar. And also in areas that are deeply rooted, such as the reform of fiscal rules or migration”, it adds.
