Eduardo González
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, assured yesterday in the Congress that Spain will maintain the same “relationship” with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), but will “closely follow the internal investigation” into the alleged involvement of some of its workers in the Hamas attacks. Likewise, he asked for the support of all parties for the recognition of Palestine and the officialization of Catalan, Basque and Galician in the EU.
“We will not modify our relationship with UNRWA, although we are closely monitoring the internal investigation and the results it may yield due to the actions of a dozen people” in an organization that has “30,000 workers,” the minister assured before the Foreign Affairs Commission. congressional. According to Albares, UNRWA is “an indispensable body to alleviate the tremendous humanitarian situation in Gaza.”
Last Friday, UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini announced the expulsion of a dozen agency workers and the opening of an immediate investigation against them after the Israeli authorities provided him with information “about the alleged participation of several used in the horrific attacks against Israel on October 7.”
After hearing the news, several countries froze their contributions to the organization pending the results of the investigation, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany and Japan. The Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, has called on the international community not to suspend its support for the agency, and although he has admitted that “the alleged horrendous acts of these employees must have consequences,” he has also asked that they not be penalized. to the “tens of thousands of people” who work at the agency. The European Commission announced yesterday that it will review the funding of UNRWA in light of the “very serious allegations” related to the participation of some of its staff in the “atrocious attacks” of 7 October.
The second vice president of the Government and leader of Sumar (minority partner in the coalition Government), Yolanda Díaz, has asked that the agency’s funding not be cut off and has even demanded that Spain “increase its contribution to an essential organization for the people Palestinian”.
Throughout 2023, the Government provided €18.5 million in voluntary contributions to UNRWA. “We have tripled aid to Palestine, reaching almost 50 million euros, including our support for an indispensable body such as the United Nations agency, UNRWA, in order to alleviate the tremendous humanitarian situation in Gaza,” Albares recalled before the Foreign Affairs Commission.
In response to Albares’ words, PP spokesman Carlos Floriano admitted that “there should be no lack of help for the Palestinian people,” but warned that Spain cannot remain “idly faced with the seriousness of the accusations.”
The Palestinian State
Likewise, the minister urged all parliamentary groups to support “the establishment of a realistic and viable Palestinian State” because it represents “the best guarantee for Israel’s security and for peace in the region.” “The hope of the Palestinian people, which is called a Palestinian state, is closely intertwined with the security of the people of Israel,” he said.
In this regard, the minister warned of the need to contain the armed conflict in the Middle East, which has already left “more than 25,000 dead and 65,000 injured, as well as 60% of the homes destroyed or seriously damaged,” because “if violence scale, could have devastating consequences for those countries, but also for the entire Mediterranean region, which also includes Spain.” “No one in this room can look the other way when so many thousands and thousands of civilians are dying” in the Gaza Strip, he said.
“Spain has demanded an immediate and permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages,” he continued. “We are not going to resign ourselves to continuing to see more women, men, girls and innocent boys killed in Gaza, the suffering of Palestinian families. We cannot resign ourselves to continuing to see the suffering of the hostages’ families. The violence has to stop,” he added.
Regarding the decision of the International Court of Justice to apply precautionary measures to Israel to avoid genocide, Albares assured that “Spain supports the work of the Court and requests full compliance from all parties.” This implies, he specified, that Israel must comply with the Genocide Convention, preventing the death of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and “not deliberately subjecting them to living conditions calculated to cause their physical destruction”.
Catalan, Basque and Galician
On the other hand, Albares asked, in the same appearance, for the cooperation of all political parties to obtain the support of the rest of the EU Member States for the officialization of Catalan, Basque and Galician in the Union.
“I ask all the political groups present here to support me and to collaborate with me in this task with their resources in their respective political families in the European Parliament and with the European governments of the Council of their political sign,” he stated. In his opinion, this should be a “common goal and even a common pride.” For this reason, Albares extended his invitation to the PP and Vox, because “there are important governments with which they have intense relations, even friendship.”
According to the minister, the Government is not going to “give up in its efforts to achieve official status” and, to that end, maintains contacts “at the highest level with all EU governments” and with the Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU to resolve your doubts about the financing of the inclusion of the three languages in the community regulation.
The spokespersons for EH Bildu, Jon Iñarritu, and ERC, Jordi Salvador, urged the minister to specify the “schedule” that the Government manages to achieve this objective and the latter accused the Executive of not having done “enough to achieve that official status.” Vox spokesperson, Carlos Flores, rejected Albares’ request and assured that the officialization of the three languages would entail a cost of 132 million euros that Spain has agreed to assume and that it would represent “82 million more than those allocated for the catastrophe.” humanitarian in Gaza.”
Red Sea and Russia
During the debate, Albares reiterated that Spain “has no intention of participating” in the Red Sea operation but “it will not be an obstacle to it taking place.” In this regard, Floriano lamented “it is very difficult to agree when you change criteria based on the demands of your partners” and Podemos spokesperson, Martina Verlarde, warned that her party would ask for the opinion of Congress in the event that the Government decided to join the mission and, in that case, it would give a “resounding no” to that participation.
Floriano also denounced that Spain has become “the best customer in the purchase of gas from Russia” and warned, in relation to “the implications of Russia in the process”, that “the stability of the Government of Spain depends on someone who “He was in contact with Russia and Putin to destabilize our country and the European Union.” In his reply, Albares assured him that in Europe there is no concern about Catalonia, that what is “very worrying is that the General Council of the Judiciary is not renewed” and that the PP has failed in all its attempts to put obstacles to the law. of amnesty in the European institutions.
Venezuela
During Albares’ appearance the situation in Venezuela also came up. According to the minister, the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) of that country to ratify the fifteen-year disqualification of the main anti-Chavista leader, María Corina Machado (which will prevent her from running in the presidential elections in the second half of this year) and also the opponent Henrique Capriles “does not broaden pluralism and is not in line with what Spain would like to see.” Likewise, he assured that Spain had not requested the withdrawal of European sanctions on the Maduro regime, but rather their review, which has contributed to them becoming renewable every six months instead of every twelve months.
Gibraltar
On the other hand, the Foreign Minister assured the Commission that Spain “is ready” to sign the agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom on Gibraltar and asked for “the support” of the parliamentary groups for this. Spain, he continued, “has presented a global, balanced and generous proposal to create an area of shared prosperity between Gibraltar and the Campo de Gibraltar that allows the freedom of movement of people and goods, the physical elimination of the Fence and the joint use of the airport”. “We are now awaiting the UK’s response,” he added.
