The Diplomat
The decision of Pedro Sánchez’s government to approve, in the last Council of Ministers before the general elections, the granting of a large number of voluntary contributions to international organisations, programmes and funds for an amount close to 40 million euros, has not gone down well with the PP, diplomatic circles close to the party have reported to The Diplomat.
These sources point out that normally – at least this has been the case in recent years – the Executive has been approving these voluntary contributions in November or December, and not in July. They understand, as they explained to The Diplomat, that it has been a measure aimed at revaluing the figure of Pedro Sánchez in the eyes of the recipients of these funds, in case he does not manage to continue in La Moncloa after next Sunday’s elections, and at the same time, to deny a possible government of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the ability to decide the destination of the aid.
Other diplomatic sources consulted by this website indicated that one of Sánchez’s possible options if he has to leave the government and chooses not to lead the opposition would be to be appointed to head one of the international organisations or United Nations programmes that are among the beneficiaries of Spanish funds.
Thus, among the recipients of the voluntary contributions agreed by the Council of Ministers last Tuesday are the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), with eight million euros; the World Health Organisation (WHO), with 3.95 million euros; the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), with 1.75 million euros; and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with 2 million, for different activities.
The Alliance of Civilisations, the major foreign policy initiative of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s government, which was adopted by the UN in 2007 and has been headed by former foreign minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos for almost five years, is also among the beneficiaries. The Alliance of Civilisations has received voluntary contributions from Spain since its inception, although the amounts have varied depending on who was in power in Spain: a few hundred thousand euros a year under the PP government – although it was very critical of the initiative – and around one million euros, on most occasions, under PSOE governments, as has been the case this year.
