The Diplomat
Spanish foreign policy was the focus of the debate held last Wednesday at the Universidad San Pablo-CEU, in which representatives of the main political parties running in the general elections on 23 July took part.
This first debate on foreign ministry policy, in which the parties were able to present their proposals, was held in an environment conducive to the exchange of ideas, such as the university.
In this case, it took place in the Salón de Grados of the Faculty of Economics at the San Pablo CEU University, a place that even before encouraging the creation of the Tacitus Group – so important in the last years of Franco’s regime to promote a smooth transition to democracy – was already hosting debates of deep political, economic and social significance.
Moderated by Professor Antonio Alonso, the participants were Pau Marí Klose (PSOE) -until a fortnight ago president of the Foreign Ministry Committee of the Congress-, Gabriel Elorriaga (PP) -member of the Cooperation Committee and Secretary of State for Territorial Organisation of the State in the Government of José Mª Aznar- and Antón Gómez-Reino (Podemos) -vice president of the Foreign Ministry Committee of the Congress-.
Over the course of two hours, the MPs had the opportunity to express the broad outlines of their respective parties with respect to the central issues of Spain’s foreign policy: the European Union, relations with the United States, Latin America, Morocco, the Mediterranean, Central Asia, China and, of course, the war against Ukraine, how it should end, and Spain’s relationship with Russia.
Development Cooperation and the role of the 2030 Agenda were also discussed.
