<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, confirmed this Monday that the Ministry has created 657 new positions for Spanish Embassies and Consulates around the world so far this year.</strong></h4> "So far this year, we have created 657 new positions for Spanish Embassies and Consulates around the world," the minister wrote in a message posted on social media. The message includes a video in which Albares asserts that "the top priority of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs" is "the three million Spaniards" residing abroad and the millions who travel abroad each year "for work, tourism, or other reasons." "That is why we have digitized the Consular Civil Registry, and as of this month, all Spanish consulates around the world have digitized it," he stated. “We are also digitizing all consular services with a significant investment of €115 million,” he added. “That is why we have also opened new Consulates in China and the United Kingdom, and we are going to open new Consulates in Cuba and India,” and “that is why we have strengthened the consular staff,” he concluded. On June 10, Albares announced, after presenting the 2024 Consular Balance report to the Council of Ministers, that, in 2024, the Government invested €115 million in the consular digitalization process, created three attached consulates in Havana, Buenos Aires, and Mexico, “which are in particular demand,” and approved the opening of new Consulates General in the United Kingdom, China, Cuba, and India. He also stated that, to address the "increased demand for consulates," the Ministry had created 150 new positions for consulates and consular services in 2024. A week later, the Association of Spanish Diplomats (ADE) warned, in response to the Consular Balance, that the "relentless increase in demand for consular services" is occurring with "increasingly precarious human and material resources" and that the opening of the new consulates announced by the minister and the creation of 150 new positions for consulates and consular services are two "welcome" decisions, but "are far from sufficient to address the underlying problems of the consular network."
