Eduardo González
The Presidency of the Council of the EU, the EU-CELAC Summit, the first Spain-Morocco RAN in eight years, the thaw in relations with Algeria, the serious diplomatic crisis with Israel in the context of the war against Hamas, the stoppage and the subsequent resumption of negotiations on Gibraltar, the debates in the EU on Pedro Sánchez’s commitments to Junts, the early elections, the replacement of the leadership of the Albares team and Spain’s refusal to participate in a US mission in the Red Sea are some of the pillars of Spain’s foreign action in 2023.
Presidency
On July 1, Spain assumed its fifth Presidency of the Council of the EU, which was inevitably marked by the decision of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to advance the general elections to July 23, just three weeks after taking office. witness to Sweden.
The Spanish semester was launched with four major priorities: the reindustrialization of the European Union, “advancing the ecological and environmental transition”, the defense of “greater social and economic justice” and maintaining the unity of the EU “in the defense of an international order based on rules that prioritize peace, stability and development.”
After six months, according to Pedro Sánchez himself during his last appearances before the European Parliament and the Congress of Deputies, the results of the Spanish Presidency are basically summarized in the celebration of the first Summit between the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAC) since 2015, the approval of the Nature Restoration Law, the celebration of the Tripartite Social Summit, the provisional agreement for the reform of the electricity market, the implementation of the Disability Card, the adoption of the first Artificial Intelligence law in the world, the parliamentary agreement on the reform of the Treaties or some important advances in terms of enlargement, especially after the double meeting in Granada of the European Political Community and the informal European Council.
In this context, the last European Presidency Council concluded in Brussels with the historic decision to start accession negotiations for Ukraine and Moldova. However, that same Council concluded without a consensus on the mid-term review of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the budget until 2027, on which aid of 50 billion euros for Ukraine depends. The 27 States have met for February 1 in order to reach an agreement. In both issues (Ukraine’s accession and MFF), the main stumbling block was the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán.
In its final stretch, the Presidency managed to materialize, to a certain extent, some of its most important specific objectives: the modernization of the trade agreement between the EU and Chile, the agreement between the Spanish Presidency and the European Parliament for the Legal Framework on Migration and Asylum and the adoption of the agreement on the new fiscal rules by the EU Ministers of Economy and Finance. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has not hesitated to attribute the achievement of these “milestones” to the “political leadership” of Spain and has even assured that, “if the Spanish Presidency had not achieved them, they would never have been achieved.”
Nadia Calviño, president of the EIB
Also in the final stretch of the Presidency, the Vice President for Economic Affairs, Nadia Calviño, obtained the support of Ecofin to become, as of January 1, the first woman to preside over the European Investment Bank (EIB), the main financial institution. of the EU. For Calviño, this candidacy was especially relevant after his failed attempts to direct the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after the departure of Christine Lagarde to the European Central Bank (ECB) and to preside over the Eurogroup, made up of the economic ministers of the euro zone.
EU-CELAC and Latin America Summit
One of the most announced moments of the Presidency was the celebration, in Brussels, of the first Summit between the European Union and CELAC since 2015, one of the main commitments of the Spanish Government during the Presidency of the Council of the EU. It was Pedro Sánchez’s last major international event before the elections on July 23 and, in fact, the head of the Executive twice altered his agenda at the Summit to participate in two electoral rallies in Huesca and San Sebastián. The meeting concluded with a final declaration in which the leaders committed to “renew and continue to strengthen” the bi-regional partnership and to work “together as sovereign partners” to “address the multiple crises and challenges of our time.” They also spoke out against Russia’s war in Ukraine. This point was admitted by all countries, including Cuba and Venezuela and with the sole exception of Nicaragua.
As far as Latin America is concerned, 2022 concluded with Spain condemning the failed self-coup of former Peruvian president Pedro Castillo. Albares received in Madrid in June the Prime Minister of Peru, Alberto Otárola, and his Peruvian counterpart, Ana Gervasi, who thanked Spain for its “recognition and support” for President Dina Boluarte (Castillo’s successor) and “for the constitutional strengthening and institutional of the country.”
Between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, Spain and Venezuela recovered the rank of ambassador for their respective representatives in both countries (Ramón Santos, in the case of Spain, and Coromoto Godoy, in that of Venezuela). This change of course, according to Spanish diplomatic sources, was due to the “new circumstances”, specifically the resumption of dialogue in Mexico between the Government and the opposition. Although there were chargé d’affaires, Spain had no ambassador (as such) in Caracas since November 2020 and Venezuela had no ambassador in Madrid since February 2018. On the other hand, the EU Foreign Affairs Council renewed, in mid-2020, November, for a period of six months instead of a year, the sanctions against Venezuela, after Spain recommended the review of these measures in response to the recent agreement between the opposition and the regime of Nicolás Maduro for the holding of presidential elections in 2024.
Between February and the summer, Spain granted nationality to dozens of Nicaraguan citizens who had been stripped of their citizenship and expelled from the country by Daniel Ortega’s regime. Among the beneficiaries are diplomats, former state officials, human rights defenders, Sandinista dissidents, opponents, journalists, academics, students, businessmen and merchants, and such important figures as Cristiana Chamorro, presidential candidate in the 2021 elections; journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro Barrios, founder of the local newspaper Confidencial and son of former president Violeta Chamorro; or the sociologist Gertrudis Guerrero, wife of the exiled Nicaraguan writer Sergio Ramírez.
The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, made a state visit to Spain at the end of April, where he agreed with Pedro Sánchez on the importance of the Spanish Presidencies of the EU and the Brazilian Presidencies of Mercosur to reach a trade agreement between the two parts. Sánchez thanked him for his proposal to create a “G20 of peace” in Ukraine, but with “nuances”: “There is an aggressor and an attacked person and if we want a just and lasting peace it is essential that the voice of the attacked country be heard.” Both leaders met again at the beginning of December in Dubai (on the margins of COP28) to take stock of the negotiations on the Association agreement between the European Union and Mercosur, in the final stretch of both presidencies.
Likewise, King Felipe VI attended the inauguration of the controversial president of Argentina, Javier Milei, in December, which was also attended by the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, the former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, and the president of Vox, Santiago Abascal. , and the deputy spokesperson for the Popular Group in Congress, Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo. There was no representative of the Government at the investiture, except for the then Secretary of State for Ibero-America, Juan Fernández Trigo, and Pedro Sánchez refrained from congratulating Milei on his victory in the second electoral round. During his speech in the investiture debate, Sánchez criticized Milei’s “delirious reactionary speech” and wished electoral victory for his rival, Sergio Massa. The second vice president and leader of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, declared, in her personal capacity, that Javier Milei’s victory was “a sad day for the democratic bloc around the world.”
Ukraine
Pedro Sánchez made two trips to Ukraine in 2023. The first was in February on the occasion of the second anniversary of the Russian invasion, in which he announced together with President Volodimir Zelensky that Spain would send six Leopard 2A4 battle tanks to Ukraine and that the number could be raised to ten. The second trip to Kyiv took place on July 1, as the premiere of the Spanish Presidency of the EU, to show the support of Spain and the entire European Union for Ukraine and to announce the shipment of another four Leopard tanks and more armored vehicles troop transport.
Throughout 2023, Spain has continued its participation in the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine, known as the Ramstein format, and has reinforced its commitment within the EUMAM Ukraine operation. Since the start of the war with Russia, some 3,500 Ukrainian soldiers have been trained by the Spanish Armed Forces, making Spain the third European contributor to the training of Ukrainian personnel, which is coordinated through the Toledo Training Coordination Center. Likewise, 86 transports of all types of material have been carried out (TOA vehicles, battle tanks, civil and military ambulances, military trucks and various ammunition, a deployable hospital) and a total of 89 Ukrainian soldiers have been transferred to national territory to receive medical treatment.
The NATO Summit
In mid-July (just on the eve of the general elections), Pedro Sánchez participated in the NATO Summit, held for the first time in Lithuania (specifically in Vilnius) and during which he announced that Spain would substantially strengthen its presence in Romania and would lead the Battle Group in Slovakia with the deployment of 700 soldiers. He also announced that Spain joined the Joint Declaration of the G7 leaders to help Ukraine develop its military capabilities against Russia in the medium and long term, adopted in Vilnius on the margins of the Alliance summit itself.
Also on the sidelines of the Summit, Sánchez met with the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who asked him to speed up his country’s accession process to the Union during the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU. Erdogan’s presence in Vilnius took on special importance due to his decision to lift the veto on Sweden’s entry into NATO.
Morocco and Algeria
In 2023, Morocco once again became one of the main focuses of Spanish foreign action and, at the same time, one of the great points of friction not only between the Government and the opposition, but even within the coalition Executive due to the rejection by its most leftist sector of Sánchez’s decision to endorse Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara.
The most important moment occurred at the beginning of February with the celebration in Rabat of the High Level Meeting (RAN) between Spain and Morocco (the first since 2015), which represented the climax of the recovery of bilateral relations. The meeting began with controversy over Mohamed VI’s sit-in on Pedro Sánchez and concluded with a Joint Declaration in which both parties expressed their desire to “enrich” the “relations of excellence that have always united them” and committed to “avoiding all “what we know offends the other party, especially as it affects our respective spheres of sovereignty”, in obvious reference to Ceuta and Melilla, on the one hand, and Western Sahara, on the other. The RAN had the participation of the socialist members of the Government and with the absence of the ministers of Unidas Podemos.
After the general elections stopped, and once he was confirmed in office, José Manuel Albares chose Morocco for his first international trip in the new legislature. In Rabat, the minister conveyed to the Government of Morocco that, on the part of Spain, “everything is ready so that land customs with Ceuta and Melilla can begin to operate” (one of the points of the Road Map adopted in April 2022). in Rabat by Pedro Sánchez and Mohamed VI) and, therefore, “no further pilot tests are necessary.” However, he was unable to obtain any date for the opening of customs from his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita, who attributed the delays to “technical problems.” Albares also addressed in Rabat another of the year’s diplomatic successes: FIFA’s decision, announced at the beginning of October, to choose the joint candidacy between Spain, Portugal and Morocco to organize the 2030 World Cup.
The improvement of the political and diplomatic climate with Morocco was accompanied by the gradual overcoming of one of its worst consequences: the deterioration of relations with Algeria due to the new Spanish position on Western Sahara. The thaw in bilateral relations began to occur at the end of September thanks to contacts on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York and after a few words from Sánchez before the General Assembly in which he opted to seek a way out of the Sahara conflict “within the framework of the United Nations Charter and the resolutions of the Security Council” and defended a “political and mutually acceptable solution” by both parties, without mentioning the Moroccan proposal for autonomy. Apparently, Algiers also welcomed Sánchez’s stance in favor of the Palestinian state after the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas. Algeria is one of the strongest supporters of the Palestinians, both the National Authority and Hamas, and does not recognize Israel.
Under these circumstances, in November, Spain granted its approval to the new ambassador of Algeria, Abdelfetah Daghmun, who in December presented the Style Copies of his Credential Letters to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The position had been vacant since March 19, 2022, when the Government of Algeria called its ambassador in Madrid for consultations in the midst of tension with Spain.
Middle East
The most complicated diplomatic moment of the year was experienced in the Middle East, after the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel and the harsh military retaliation by Benjamin Netanyahu’s Government against the Gaza Strip.
After the outbreak of the crisis, Pedro Sánchez presented a proposal to the EU for the holding of an international peace conference that would allow progress towards a two-state solution. The proposal was supported by the European Council in October, but there are still no dates or venue, although the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, expressed his wish that Spain “can host” this event. In any case, and as in the Sahrawi case, Spain’s position in the face of this crisis was affected by the clear internal differences in the coalition Government, especially by the harsh condemnations of its most leftist partners to the military operation of Israel in Gaza.
The situation experienced its most tense moment at the end of November, when Sánchez and the Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander de Croo (representing the current Presidency and the next Presidency of the Union), made a tour of the Middle East in which Pedro Sánchez told Netanhyahu that “the number of dead Palestinians is truly unbearable” and demanded, at the Rafah crossing, “a lasting ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip.
As a consequence, the Israeli Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, summoned the Spanish ambassador in Tel Aviv, Ana Sálomon, the following day, after accusing Pedro Sánchez of “supporting terrorism.” In response, José Manuel Albares summoned the Israeli ambassador in Madrid, Rodica Radian-Gordon, to whom he warned that “the completely false words directed by the Government of Israel towards Pedro Sánchez are unacceptable to us and cannot occur again.” never”.
To further complicate matters, just one day after Sálomon’s call, Hamas issued a statement in which it thanked Pedro Sánchez for his “clear and bold” stance in condemning “the indiscriminate killing of civilians in the Gaza Strip by the occupying regime” and for announcing the possible “unilateral decision to recognize the Palestinian State if the European Union does not take this step.” Eli Cohen described Hamas’ congratulations to Sánchez as “shameful and indecorous” and warned, through the social network hostages.”
After the mutual summons of the two ambassadors, Albares himself settled the diplomatic conflict on November 28 and even met with Eli Cohen to convey Spain’s desire to “maintain the good relations we have with Israel” and to invite him to visit Spain. However, when everything seemed on track, the situation became complicated again that same day due to new statements by Pedro Sánchez in which he expressed his “frank doubts” that Israel was respecting International Humanitarian Law in Gaza. These words caused the indignation of Netanyahu, who immediately afterwards called his ambassador in Spain for consultations, an unprecedented Israeli decision with a Western country. In an attempt to redirect the situation, Sánchez later had a telephone conversation with former Israeli Defense Minister (and current Minister without Portfolio) Benny Gantz to assure him that “Israel is a partner and friend of Spain.”
Gibraltar
On the other hand, throughout 2023 negotiations between the United Kingdom and the EU on the future fit of Gibraltar into the EU after Brexit were paralyzed. The talks, whose break was due to the Spanish and Gibraltarian elections, have seen little progress due to London’s reservations on issues such as the presence of members of the Spanish Security Forces at passenger controls at the port and airport or by its refusal of any control by Spain over the movements of personnel at the Royal Navy base in the Rock, which the Spanish authorities consider essential to be able to exercise their powers as a Schengen area border.
On November 28, José Manuel Albares and the new British Foreign Minister, David Cameron, agreed to resume negotiations between the European Commission and the United Kingdom (Spain follows the contacts on the front line and any agreement between Brussels and London only can be signed if it has the approval of the Spanish authorities), but no date was announced for the signing of the agreement. The negotiating teams from Spain and the United Kingdom met in December in Malaga to resume talks.
Red Sea
Right in the final stretch of the year, Pedro Sánchez found himself with another international hot potato, after the US Department of Defense included Spain among the countries participating in the operation launched by Washington to guarantee the security of maritime traffic in the Sea. Red.
Spain initially warned that it would only get involved in this operation if it had the support of the EU and NATO, but the Ministry of Defense later went further and announced that Spain would not participate in the mission and advocated the creation of a specific mission in the Red Sea with “its own scope, means and objectives” to protect commercial maritime transport from attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, in the face of the European Union’s intention to link that operation to Atalanta, the mission led by Spain to combat piracy in the Indian Ocean. Defense later specified that the Spanish Government had not vetoed any EU mission in the Red Sea and that Spain “is and will always be a serious and reliable ally, committed to the EU, NATO and the UN.”
During the press conference after the last Council of Ministers of the year, Pedro Sánchez assured that “Spain is not opposed to the creation of any other operation in the Red Sea, but we consider that the Atalanta operation does not have the characteristics nor is it of the nature of the operation required for the Red Sea.” “In Atalanta what we are doing is fighting against a particular phenomenon of piracy and in the Red Sea the situation is completely different, the risk is different and obviously the nature of the challenge is different. One operation has nothing to do with another,” he added. The Spanish Government, he assured, is “open” to participating in the new mission if it is proposed within the EU or NATO, “but obviously not within the framework” of Atalanta.
The Spanish position has not been liked in Washington and the president of the United States, Joe Biden, brought up the issue in a telephone conversation with Sánchez. Instead, the Houthi rebels have praised “Spain’s refusal to be carried away by American and British lies on maritime navigation.” The praise of the Yemeni rebels has not pleased the Government of Pedro Sánchez, as The Diplomat was able to verify from diplomatic sources, given the negative consequences that Hamas’s applause for Sánchez’s position on Gaza has had for its image.
The EU and Spanish affairs
On the other hand, internal political tensions in Spain transcended to the European arena in 2023. On November 21, in the midst of a fierce debate in the European Parliament starring, above all, the Spanish MEPs, the Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, assured that the Commission will continue to examine “very carefully and in an independent and objective manner” the law. of amnesty agreed by PSOE with Junts and ERC in the investiture negotiations.
Another of the commitments between Sánchez and Junts that also transcended the EU was the Spanish proposal to modify the European linguistic regime and make Catalan, Basque and Galician official within the European Union. The matter was addressed in four consecutive meetings of the General Affairs Council between September and December (Albares appeared in two of them, something unusual in this type of meeting), but in the end, and despite the “adapted” proposals of Spain (which insisted on the “specificity of the Spanish case” and agreed to assume the costs), the 27 have chosen to delay the matter and refer it to the next Belgian Presidency, in which Spain will no longer have the possibility of proposing the agenda of the meetings. The former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont has accused Sánchez of “non-compliance” and Albares has insisted that “the Government has complied with the agreement to take this matter to the General Affairs Council.”
Total change at the top of the Foreign Affairs Ministry
Following the investiture of Pedro Sánchez, José Manuel Albares has become the longest-serving foreign minister of the current Socialist era. Once confirmed in his post, the head of diplomacy has completely changed his team and has decided to surround himself with three political state secretaries for the first time since 2009: Fernando Sampedro, for the European Union; Susana Sumelzo, for Ibero-America, the Caribbean and Spanish in the World; and Eva Granados for International Cooperation. The only diplomat is Diego Martínez Belío, his former chief of staff, in Foreign and Global Affairs. The four new state secretaries replace Ángeles Moreno, Pascual Navarro, Juan Fernández Trigo and Pilar Cancela. The first three will be ambassadors in Washington, Berlin and Lisbon, respectively, and the fourth has become State Secretary for Migration.
These replacements come amid the unease of diplomatic associations over the appointment of politicians not only to senior positions in the Ministry, but even to some embassies, especially multilateral ones, following the recent appointment of former ministers Miquel Iceta and Héctor Gómez to head the Permanent Representations to Unesco and the UN, respectively, and which could be joined by that of Ximo Puig, former president of the Valencian Community at the OECD.
