The Diplomat
The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation abroad (AECID) will take over the direct management of Spain’s cultural centers in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Panama, which until now were associated with Spanish Cooperation but did not belong to the AECID, in order to be covered by the Law on External Action and the Vienna Convention in view of “the worrying political situation in the three Central American countries”.
Yesterday, the Council of Ministers approved the Royal Decree abolishing and creating certain AECID bodies in order to, “within the provisions of its management contract, continue with the rationalization process”. The Royal Decree involves the suppression of a Foreign Cooperation Unit (UCE) in Uruguay (specifically, the Training Center), with the aim of streamlining the institutional structure of AECID in this country; the creation of three Cultural Centers (CCE) in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Panama in order to consolidate the cultural cooperation program; and the creation of a Spanish Cooperation Office (OCE) in Tunisia to promote bilateral and regional cooperation projects and delegated cooperation.
There are currently Spanish cultural centers in Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama, but they are not part of AECID’s external structure. According to the Government, these three centers play an “outstanding role” and contribute to consolidate “the prestige of Spanish cultural cooperation, as well as Spain’s strategic interest in Central America”. Although they do not belong to the AECID, they operate in association with Spanish cooperation and are financed almost entirely from the Agency’s budget through local counterparts, who receive annual subsidies.
“The worrying political situation in the three Central American countries motivates that the protection of these spaces for cultural cooperation is considered urgent, turning them into Cooperation Units Abroad (UCE), thus being covered by Law 2/2014 on Foreign Action and Service and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961,” added the Council of Ministers. The new AECID Cultural Centers in Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama will be located in the Spanish Embassies in these three countries.
The closure of the Training Center in Uruguay will be accompanied by an expansion of the competencies of the Spanish Cooperation Office in Montevideo, which will receive, precisely, those of the center that had been eliminated. The Spanish Cooperation currently has three Overseas Cooperation Units in Montevideo: an OCE, a Training Center and a Cultural Center. It is the only country in which the Spanish Cooperation Office and the Training Center are located in the same city (both in the capital). The OCE currently manages AECID’s programs and projects in four countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay), together with the Embassies accredited to these countries, and promotes triangular cooperation projects in which Spain participates in some of these countries.
With regard to Tunisia, the Council of Ministers recalled yesterday that, as a result of the geographical concentration established by the IV Master Plan 2013-2016, in November 2013 the Tunisia ECO was closed, becoming an Antenna of the Egypt ECO at the administrative level, but not programmatically. Subsequently, the V Master Plan 2018-2021 included Tunisia among the “Advanced Cooperation Countries”.
The transformation into an Antenna has limited the Spanish Cooperation’s capacity to maneuver in the country, since the lack of a stable structure and coordination in the field generates difficulties of interlocution and representation in Tunisia. Therefore, it has been decided to reopen this ECO to “allow the proper development of a cooperation program in Tunisia aimed at excellence, both bilateral and regional, as well as the appropriate participation as a partner of the EU in delegated cooperation projects where Spanish cooperation has an added value to contribute”.
