Albares accuses the PP of “politicizing the diplomatic career” after a question about the dismissal of ambassadors

Eduardo González The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, accused the People’s Party on Tuesday of “politicizing the diplomatic career” in response to a question in the Senate about the “dismissal of ambassadors in Croatia, Belgium and South Korea in less than three weeks”. Meanwhile, the president of the Association of Spanish Diplomats (ADE), Alberto Virella, has denounced the “defencelessness, arbitrariness and fear of reprisals” faced by those who show “some kind of critical comment or attitude” against the minister. The PP senator, Íñigo Fernández García, denounced before the Senate the dismissal of the current ambassadors in Croatia, Juan González-Barba, “immediately after publishing an opinion article in the press praising the figure of King Felipe VI, as if that were a crime for the minister”; in Belgium, Alberto Antón, “after, in a speech by the minister, he fell asleep, as if that were a crime”, and in South Korea, Guillermo Kirkpatrick de la Vega, “for meeting with the president of the Community of Madrid”, Isabel Díaz Ayuso. “That is a crime, it is true, because this Government pursues everything that has to do with Ayuso in a determined manner, and it has almost crucified him”, he added. In his first reply, Albares limited himself to answering: “Your question leaves me perplexed. You ask me about the dismissal of three ambassadors who at the time I am answering are in their posts. Are you joking or are you serious?” In his second intervention, the PP senator accused Albares of having “the diplomatic corps and the Ministry staff on a war footing”. “Today, the Association of Spanish Diplomats issued a note against him” in which “they speak of arbitrariness in the Ministry, they speak of a lack of rules and regulations, they speak of despotic behaviour”, he continued. “I recommend that he abandon sectarianism, I recommend that he stop using politics to campaign, I recommend that he put the interests of Spain first. He was already reprimanded by the Senate in October, he has just been reprimanded by his colleagues in the Diplomatic Corps. I don’t know what else he has left, I think he has to rectify”, he concluded. In his second reply, Albares assured that “the Ministry works through the usual channels”. “I think they should abandon this attempt that they have been trying to politicise the diplomatic career for some time now. Leave the active civil servants alone”, he continued. “I believe that, if you are not going to support us, because you will never do so, at least do not get in the way, do not block the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with France, do not be an anti-Moroccan party, congratulate yourselves that customs are finally open in Ceuta and Melilla, which you asked about every day, day in and day out,” continued Albares. “I only make two requests of you. I abandon the possibility of asking you for pacts. Stop politicizing the diplomatic career, you will not achieve it, and, at least, do not get in the way of the interests of the Spanish people,” he concluded. New complaints from the ADE On the other hand, Alberto Virella, president of the ADE, the most representative association of the diplomatic career, met this Tuesday with the PP senators who are part of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Upper House. The meeting, held behind closed doors, had been called by the president of the Commission, José Ignacio Landaluce (PP), but was boycotted by the rest of the parliamentary groups. At the end of the meeting, Virella reported that he had conveyed to the PP senators the need for the Regulations of the Diplomatic Career to be approved as soon as possible, in line with the letter sent on January 30 by the Board of Directors of the ADE to Albares in which it was requested that the process of publication of vacancies and selection of candidates be “predictable and transparent, with compliance with predetermined deadlines” and “in accordance with objective and non-arbitrary criteria”. In his statements to the press, Alberto Virella also denounced the “serious problems affecting the Spanish foreign service”, the responsibility of which “is not only that of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but also of the Ministry of Finance, which must provide, through the general budgets of the State, with means and resources”. He also regretted the minister's poor management of the appointments of diplomatic personnel to posts abroad and denounced that "there is helplessness, there is arbitrariness, there is fear of reprisals against someone who appears to be making some kind of critical comment or attitude visible."

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