The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers yesterday authorized the negotiations for the renewal of the 1988 US-Spanish Defense Agreement in order to allow the stationing of two additional US destroyers at the Rota Naval Base (Cadiz), as agreed last June in Madrid by the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, and the President of the United States, Joe Biden.
Specifically, the Council of Ministers authorized “the negotiation of an agreement in development of the Second Protocol of Amendment to the Defense Cooperation Agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United States of America of December 1, 1988, for the stationing of two additional U.S. destroyers at the Rota naval base”.
The expansion of U.S. military capabilities at Rota is included in the Joint Statement adopted by Sanchez and Biden at the La Moncloa complex (their first major meeting) on the eve of the NATO Summit in Madrid. Specifically, the agreement envisaged sending two more destroyers to the base in Rota, which will grow from four to six ships. The US has had four destroyers at Rota since 2014 and 2015 (USS Carney, USS Donald Cook, USS Porter and USS Ross), integrated into the NATO missile shield.
The agreement with the United States generated a new political storm within the coalition Government, after the PP announced its support to the measure and Unidas Podemos (minority partner of the Government) announced its intention to vote against it in Congress. In fact, that was what happened fifteen days later during the vote on a PP motion for a resolution agreed with the PSOE to promote the increase of the Defense budget and which urged the Government to “support the expansion of the military contingent requested for the Rota base”. The text (non-binding, but with “symbolic” importance) was approved with 222 votes in favor, 68 against (including the seats of Unidas Podemos) and 55 abstentions.
Last October, the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Ángeles Moreno, assured in Congress that Spain and the United States will “soon” begin negotiations for the “amendment to the 1988 Agreement” in order to specify the “precise terms” of the extension of U.S. capabilities in Rota. The objective of both governments is to initial the agreement early this year and for the two destroyers to arrive at Rota between 2024 and 2026.
The agreement with the US expired in May 2021 and the reform of the text would require the support of the Lower House. However, the treaty itself establishes extensions for periods of one year through “administrative agreements in development”.
Therefore, as reported by the newspaper El País, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense consider that to amend the text (and, therefore, to allow the arrival of the two ships) only an administrative agreement is necessary, which will not necessarily have to pass through Congress, except for information purposes, as has already happened with three other previous amendments. Precisely, the 2012 amendment, which preceded the arrival of the four previous destroyers, allows the two parties to “enter into administrative agreements in development” of the agreement, which is precisely what the Council of Ministers approved yesterday.
