Eduardo González
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, expressed yesterday in Brussels the support of Spain and “the majority” of EU member states to the Estonian proposal for the joint purchase of ammunition for Ukraine.
“There has been a consensus on the importance of continuing to urgently supply military material, and very specifically ammunition, for which we are going to explore different instruments within our reach, including the possible path of joint purchases of armaments that Estonia put on the table,” Albares declared at the press conference following the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC).
During the last European Council meeting, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas proposed a scheme of work similar to the one followed with the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines to provide ammunition to the Ukrainian Army. Specifically, Kallas raised the possibility of mobilizing €4 billion, through the European Peace Facility, to procure around one million rounds of 155-millimeter artillery shells. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, yesterday conveyed the Estonian proposal to the heads of diplomacy of the 27 Member States.
Regarding the purchasing system that could be followed, Albares specified that Spain will support the one that guarantees, at the same time, “efficiency” and “European unity” and, from there, “of course, we will support it”. In any case, he warned, any concrete decision on this plan must first go through “a pronouncement by the Ministers of Defense”, because in yesterday’s meeting there was only “a political debate”, at Borrell’s proposal, in which “not everyone has expressed their opinion, but there has been a majority and, of course, no one has expressed their rejection”.
“There has been an agreement around the table, on the part of the foreign ministers, that we have to move forward and that we have to do it quickly, but no specific dates have been set,” he said. The next informal meeting of defense ministers is scheduled for March 7 and 8.
The UN and Unidas Podemos
Albares also recalled yesterday that, this very week, he will move to New York, together with “many colleagues” from the EU, to participate in a special extraordinary session of the UN General Assembly dedicated to Ukraine. “When I take the podium at the United Nations, the voice of Spain, because I will speak on behalf of the Government of Spain, will join the rest of the European colleagues in the defense of the principles of the United Nations Charter, the rejection of war as a way to resolve conflicts between States and the defense of the sovereign equality of all States and of the territorial integrity and freedom of Ukraine,” the minister assured.
Regarding the internal discrepancies that have arisen within the coalition Executive due to the opposition of the ministers of Unidas Podemos to the military aid to Ukraine, Albares limited himself to affirming that the support to Ukraine is shared by “the vast majority of the Spanish society” and that “the Government of Spain demonstrates every Tuesday in the Council of Ministers that it is united in what it has to be, which is in making decisions”.
On the other hand, the Minister also conveyed to his European counterparts “Spain’s support for the tenth package of sanctions against Russia, which will be approved in a matter of days”, because “the measures we have taken throughout this year have been effective in reducing Vladimir Putin’s war effort and for peace to return as soon as possible to Ukraine, but we must reinforce them even more, we must be more forceful against those who seek to circumvent the bans on exporting certain products to Russia”. No decision was taken at yesterday’s meeting because “it was not foreseen”, but, he assured, “there are no substantive divisions on any of the measures”.
