Eduardo González
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, defended yesterday before the Spanish ambassadors abroad the recognition, “once and for all”, of the Palestinian State by the international community and assured, in a veiled allusion to the investiture agreements with the Catalan independence supporters, that Spain is today a country that “assumes its political plurality and territorial diversity” while “practicing dialogue, negotiation and agreement”.
Sánchez pronounced these words during the inauguration of the VIII Conference of Ambassadors, held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Marqués de Salamanca and attended by 128 Spanish ambassadors accredited in as many countries or multilateral organizations. The closing ceremony will take place tomorrow at the hands of King Felipe VI.
During his speech, Sánchez reiterated that Spain recognizes Israel’s right to defend itself in accordance with International Law and International Humanitarian Law and demands Hamas the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”. He also pointed out that “the only possible way” is through dialogue and a political and lasting solution “based on the solution of two States, Palestine and Israel, living side by side in peace and security”. “We have, once and for all, to recognize the Palestinian state by the western community, by the international community,” he warned.
During the recent investiture debate, Sánchez assured that “the new government will work in Europe and in Spain to recognize the Palestinian state”. Days later, during his tour of the Middle East at the end of November, the head of the Executive declared at the Rafah crossing, between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, that “the time has come for the international community and the EU to recognize the State of Palestine once and for all”, but warned that, if the European Union does not do so jointly, “Spain will make its own decisions”.
Likewise, Sánchez assured that Spain is a country “that climbs positions in all democratic rankings, that practices dialogue, negotiation and agreement as a mature democracy, as happens in other parts of Europe” and that “assumes without complexes its political plurality and also its territorial diversity as an asset, not as a brake, to our power and our development”, in the face of “that reactionary thinking” that proposes “the illegalization of those who think differently, the illegalization of political parties,” in reference to the PP and Vox.
Sánchez assured that Spain “is advancing in coexistence compared to what happened a decade ago” and was convinced that “this success of Spanish democracy is a great resource to assert Spain’s influence in Europe and the world.”
Recently, the Association of Spanish Diplomats (ADE) issued a statement criticizing some aspects related to the Amnesty Law proposal agreed between the PSOE and Junts in view of the investiture and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, ordered the dismissal of the deputy director general of the Gibraltar Office, Javier Benosa, for an article in the newspaper El Mundo in which he expressed his criticism of the amnesty. In addition, sixty retired diplomats, most of them former ambassadors of Spain, signed in November a manifesto against the amnesty law and in which they accused Sánchez of ruining the work done years ago by the diplomats, following the instructions of the Government, to counteract abroad the discourse of the pro-independence supporters.
The President of the Government also mentioned before the ambassadors the “four major strategic axes that must preside over Spain’s action abroad in 2024”: the commitment to multilateralism, global peace and security, solidarity, the fight against climate emergency and the “promotion of our business fabric abroad”.
The head of the Executive once again boasted about “the main milestones of the Spanish Presidency” of the EU and “the record number of dossiers approved during the six-month period in key areas such as open strategic autonomy, ecological transition, social and economic justice or Artificial Intelligence”, and assured, regarding Spain’s relations with the main world powers, that “there is a shared will to deepen” with the US “in priorities such as the diversification of value chains, the development of a human framework for Artificial Intelligence or migration” and that “Spain shares the vision of the European Union on how to approach relations with Beijing”.
Regarding Latin America and the Caribbean, President Sánchez recalled “milestones such as the EU-CELAC Summit” or “the progress that has taken place under the Spanish Presidency in the EU negotiations with MERCOSUR”.
Sánchez also had words of remembrance for the Maghreb. “With Morocco we have opened a new chapter in the bilateral relationship,” the president assured. In addition, he continued, “with Algeria we also have close ties, so Spain will continue to work to maintain the best relations with this strategic partner”.
Albares
For his part, Minister Albares urged the ambassadors, “from that vocation of recognition and presence of Spain in Europe”, to “continue working so that Catalan, Galician and Basque, co-official languages of our country, are included as official languages of the Union“. “Spain has a linguistic wealth that deserves to be welcomed and included in the European Union because it is our identity and our national interest,” he added.
According to Albares, Spain’s international action in 2024 will be based on “three major cross-cutting axes”: the first axis is peace and security. In this regard, he recalled that “the wars in Ukraine and Gaza are not, unfortunately, the only crises shaking the planet” and warned that “the spiral of violence” in the Middle East “must end” through “the solution of the States”. “It is an achievable goal for which you must work, for the attainment of a Palestinian state,” he continued, addressing the ambassadors.
Within this same axis, Albares affirmed that “Spanish diplomacy must act to preserve and reinforce a multilateral order that is increasingly a political and vital imperative”. “With that multilateral and peace-preserving vocation we have presented, our candidacy to the United Nations Human Rights Council for the period 2025-2027, for which you must work actively,” he announced.
Likewise, the minister urged the ambassadors to “boost Economic Diplomacy, incorporating it transversally in all areas of foreign policy”, and to promote cooperation, a key policy within our foreign action”.
The second transversal axis of Spain’s international action, according to Albares, is “the defense of Spain’s interests and values”, working “side by side with our partners, friends and allies” and through organizations such as the Instituto Cervantes, which “in 2024 will continue to strengthen its role and actions to disseminate the Spanish language and our culture”, including “our co-official languages: Catalan, Galician and Basque”.
As for the third axis, “placing Spanish citizens at the center of your actions“, Albares recalled “the specific weight of Spanish citizens living abroad”, with “three million citizens registered in our consulates”, and dedicated “special thanks to the Embassy of Spain in Iran, and its ambassador (Angel Losada), for his magnificent work so that Ana Baneira and Santiago Sánchez, unjustly held in Iran, were released and are now in Spain with their families and loved ones”.
