The Diplomat
As anticipated, the Spanish delegation took advantage of its double intervention before the plenary of the Ibero-American Summit yesterday to warn of the seriousness of Russia’s war in Ukraine and to recall that Ibero-America and the EU share, among their common “principles and values”, the defense of democracy, the rule of law, “respect for borders, multilateralism, the territorial integrity of States or the support for a rules-based order”.
During his address to the plenary session of the Summit, held in the Dominican Republic, King Felipe VI highlighted the shared “principles and values” that “are part of the Ibero-American acquis: democracy, the rule of law, human rights, fundamental freedoms, social justice and multilateralism”. “In a world as turbulent as today’s, all the nations of our Ibero-American Community must stand united and make their voices heard in defense of these universal principles and values. You can count on Spain’s will and decisive collaboration in this regard,” he continued.
He also expressed his “admiration for the work of the Pro Tempore Ibero-American Presidency of the Dominican Republic” and his gratitude to the Ibero-American Secretary General, Andrés Allamand, and his entire team “for their support and impetus to the Ibero-American system, especially in the complex and difficult situation we are experiencing in the world, including the terrible tragedy of the war in Ukraine due to Russia’s unjustifiable aggression a little over a year ago, which affects us all”.
Subsequently, during his speech, Pedro Sánchez addressed the impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in the region and recalled that this “illegal and unjustifiable war” has caused a rise in energy and food prices in Latin America, the disruption of supply chains and other consequences such as the rise in interest rates.
For this reason, the President of the Government highlighted, among the “common objectives” of the Summit -in addition to “achieving a fairer, more inclusive and feminist Ibero-America” and “moving towards a more sustainable and people-centered Ibero-America”-, “the commitment to a more strategic Ibero-America, with its own voice” and affirmed, in this regard, that the relationship between Ibero-America and the European Union has great potential because both regions “share common principles and values, such as democracy, the rule of law and social justice” and their societies are built on “common pillars, such as respect for borders, multilateralism, the territorial integrity of States and support for a rules-based order”.
For that reason, he assured, the European Union-CELAC Summit, the first since 2015 and to be held during the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, “will not be a declaratory summit, but will establish a regular and reinforced political dialogue between the region and the European institutions”, and will allow addressing together all global challenges and will be a “primordial step” in the implementation of a shared investment agenda with projects of high strategic impact and with regional scope. Sánchez also assured that, during the Spanish Presidency, Spain aims to make progress in trade matters with agreements between the EU and Mexico, Chile and MERCOSUR, “fundamental instruments for a future of shared prosperity”.
