Eduardo González
The Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles, participated yesterday in the NATO ministerial meeting, which took place a few days before the second anniversary of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine and in which she highlighted the need to encourage direct supplies of the Spanish Defence industry to Ukraine.
The meeting, held at the Alliance Headquarters in Brussels, was divided into two work sessions: a first dedicated to the investment commitment, the Defence industrial base and the Deterrence and Defence agenda for the next Washington Summit in July and a second developed under the NATO-Ukraine Council format, which addressed the situation on the ground and the most urgent needs of the Ukrainian forces and took stock of NATO assistance in the short, medium and long term under the protection of assistance programs.
The meeting was attended by videoconference by the Minister of Defence of Ukraine, Rustem Umerov, as well as the Minister of Defense of Sweden and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell.
During her speech in the second session, Minister Robles once again assured that “Spain will maintain its unwavering support for Ukraine, both bilaterally and through different initiatives, such as the Contact Group for the Defence of Ukraine, the European Union and, of course, through NATO.” Likewise, she stated that support for Ukraine “must be reinforced with the launch of the Capabilities Coalitions to build and sustain the Ukrainian Armed Forces of the future” and recalled that Spain will participate in six of them.
This past Wednesday, Robles assured before the Contact Group for the Defence of Ukraine (the ‘Ramstein format’, convened by the Secretary of Defense of the United States, Lloyd Austin) that Spain will participate in six Capabilities Coalitions and announced the imminent departure towards Ukraine of a new maritime shipment of M-113 Armored Caterpillar Transport (TOA) vehicles – two of them transformed into ambulances -, which will be followed by the shipment of several fire fighting, snow plowing and personnel transport vehicles, as well as various material, among which includes two light vessels, an electric generator and a water purification plant. Likewise, Robles reported the shipment of various weapons for anti-aircraft defense, air-to-air operations and naval operations.
Spanish Defense industry
Finally, and in relation to the real state of the weapons and ammunition stocks of partners and allies, Robles yesterday highlighted to his NATO counterparts the need to encourage direct supplies from the national and European defence industry to Ukraine.
On June 14, 2023, Margarita Robles decided not to participate in a NATO meeting with representatives of the European and North American Defense industry to work on Euro-Atlantic arms production plans after verifying that the Atlantic Alliance had not included companies Spanish among the 25 invited firms. That same day, the minister held a meeting with the Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, to convey her discomfort and ask him to “reconsider.”
The next day, the minister went further and warned in Brussels, shortly before participating in the meeting of the Ukrainian Defense Contact Group and the ministerial meeting of the North Atlantic Council, that “anything that is done in the NATO on the Defense industry has to count on Spain” and, therefore, if this situation continues, Spain could “veto” the adoption of the industrial plan during the Alliance Summit in Vilnius. Finally, the Summit approved the Defence Production Action Plan, with which the Alliance hopes to increase arms production to address the decline in its arsenals due to Russia’s war against Ukraine and in which Spain does not appear.
