The Diplomat
The Ministry of Defence assured yesterday that there are no plans for the Mahón naval base in Menorca to become the third NATO naval base in Spain, where Rota and Cartagena bases are already in use.
In a communiqué released by the department headed by Margarita Robles, the Spanish government has responded to information published by El País, which stated that the government had offered Mahón to the Atlantic Alliance as a “port with permanent diplomatic authorisation” to dock allied ships for Operation Sea Guardian, whose mission is to dissuade and protect against terrorist attacks, among other functions.
The communiqué, which specifies that the use of Mahón is of a “one-off” nature, states: “The Ministry of Defence reports that there are no plans for the Balearic Islands to become a naval base for the organisation, beyond its current role as a one-off port of call for the Alliance’s permanent fleets”.
The Mahón base, which participates in NATO’s ‘Operation Sea Guardian’, is one of the many capabilities that Spain regularly offers NATO, and NATO ships frequently call at the base.
The note from Defence comes after Podemos expressed its criticism of this alleged decision to turn Mahón into a permanent naval base for NATO ships. On social networks, the secretary general of Podemos, Ione Belarra, expressed her rejection of the Atlantic Alliance’s military bases in Spain, such as the one in Menorca, because “they represent an unacceptable cession of sovereignty”, and added that this type of base “is playing a key role in the support of the US for the genocide that Israel is committing against the Palestinian people”.
For her part, another former Podemos minister, Irene Montero, wrote: “Parliament voted for a president for Spain, not a NATO secretary general. No to war. Not in our name”.
