The Diplomat
The Ukrainian Minister of Defense, Rustem Umerov, and the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, will participate today in the Interparliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defense Policy (CFSP/CSDP), organized by the Spanish Presidency of the EU and the Spanish Parliament.
The meeting, which is part of the parliamentary dimension of the Presidency, will bring together parliamentary representatives from the Member States in Madrid to discuss defence and security. The opening session will begin at 9:00 a.m. with speeches by the President of the Congress of Deputies, Francina Armengol, the Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, Željana Zovko, and the co-chair of the Spanish Parliament’s delegation to the CFSP/CSDP Conference, Rafael Lemus Rubiales.
Then, at 9:30 a.m., the first session will start, which will deal with the priorities of the CFSP/CSDP and the current challenges, within the framework of the 30th anniversary of the CFSP/CSDP. It will be attended by José Manuel Albares and the President of the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the European Union, Delphine Pronk.
The second working session, which will begin at 11:30 a.m., will analyze the threats posed by Russia, the invasion of Ukraine and the global consequences. Speakers will include Rustem Umerov and Luc Devigne, Deputy Director General for Eastern Europe, Russia, Central Asia, Regional Cooperation and OSCE of the European External Action Service (EEAS).
In the afternoon, a third session will be held on the latest developments in the field of the CFSP/CSDP, in which the Special Adviser for Africa of the United Nations, Cristina Duarte, and the Executive Director for Global Agenda and Multilateral Relations of the EEAS, Belén Martínez Carbonell, will take the floor.
At 4:30 p.m. will begin the fourth and last session, which will deal with European Defense and the challenges for the CSDP. The Chief of the Defense Staff, Admiral Teodoro López Calderón, and the Secretary General for Defense Policy, Admiral Juan Francisco Martínez Núñez, will intervene.
The President of the Senate, Pedro Rollán, will close the Interparliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defense Policy of the EU, accompanied by the co-president of the delegation of the Spanish Parliament to the CFSP/CSDP Conference, César Sánchez Pérez. The closing session will begin at 18:00.
Parliamentary dimension of the Spanish Presidency of the EU
The parliamentary dimension began on June 30 with the celebration in León -recognized by UNESCO as the cradle of parliamentarism- of an International Conference to commemorate Parliamentarism Day, which was inaugurated by the King and at which the León Declaration on Parliamentarism was adopted.
Once the Spanish Presidency was inaugurated, the Cortes Generales hosted the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EUROLAT), held in the Senate from July 24 to 27; and the meeting of the Presidents of the Conference of European Affairs Specialized Bodies (COSAC), also held in the Upper House on September 17 and 18.
In October, in addition to today’s meeting, the parliamentary representatives of the Member States will participate in the Interparliamentary Conference on Stability, Economic Coordination and Governance in the EU, which will also be held in the Senate. In addition, from November 26 to 28, the Congress of Deputies will hold the LXXth COSAC Conference.
