Albares responds to criticism and asserts he is undertaking a “genuine revolution” in the Foreign Service

Eduardo González Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has rejected criticism regarding the “collapse” of the Foreign Service in the face of the sharp increase in the Spanish diaspora and the rise in citizenship applications due to the Democratic Memory Law. He asserted that what is happening is “a genuine revolution” in the services provided to Spanish citizens abroad. “There is no collapse,” Albares declared during an interview on the program 'El món' on RAC1. “What we are seeing is a very significant transformation in the lives of Spaniards abroad, and therefore, there must be a very significant transformation of the Foreign Service,” he affirmed. “Since becoming minister, one of my top priorities has been the modernization of the Foreign Service to provide better service, and what I am promoting is a genuine revolution in the way Spaniards abroad are served,” he added. According to Albares, “we have gone from a very short time, in about 15 years, to more than doubling the number of Spaniards living abroad.” “There are 3,200,000 Spaniards currently living abroad, neglected by successive governments that have refused to increase staffing or renovate the buildings, and this is something I am addressing very directly,” he insisted. In this regard, the minister reviewed the digitization plan funded by the Next Generation EU program with 115 million euros, “which means that civil registries are now completely digitized,” and other initiatives, such as the creation of “a desktop for all Spaniards so they can access many of the different procedures they currently have to carry out physically, but now digitally,” and the launch, “probably before summer,” of “an app” so that these types of procedures can be done “from their mobile phones.” Furthermore, according to Albares, “the number of contracted staff has been significantly increased.” “This year there will be another 700, just like last year, when the figure was practically 700,” he stated. “These are record numbers of hires to reinforce the most important consulates,” he added. The minister also affirmed that he has “focused heavily” on “improving the salaries of contract workers.” “The first three salary increases in the last 15 years have occurred while I was minister, for contract workers in the foreign service,” he added. “We are also expanding our diplomatic and consular network,” Albares continued. “We have opened new consulates in Manchester, Cuba, and China,” and “diplomatic missions have been opened, for example, in Armenia.” Furthermore, he stated, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is “also acquiring new buildings,” such as “a new chancery in Rome and a new consulate general in London,” and the upcoming opening of “a new consulate general building in Mendoza,” Argentina. The Association of Spanish Diplomats (ADE) has repeatedly warned both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez about the “alarming situation” facing the Foreign Service in fulfilling its directives and achieving the objectives assigned by the government's foreign policy. In this regard, the ADE has criticized the lack and inadequacy of resources in a consular network that is “seriously insufficient, having to serve three million people without any increase in funding.” This situation “becomes critical when some consulates, in particular, have to process more than 2,400,000 applications for Spanish nationality stemming from the Democratic Memory Law,” which “is generating discontent among Spaniards living abroad.” Similarly, the People's Party, in a written parliamentary question on November 25, denounced the "progressive deterioration" of the consular network due to "insufficient resources, a lack of planning, and the absence of adequate reinforcements in a consular network serving an increasingly large Spanish community abroad." "The degradation of the Foreign Service is neither accidental nor inevitable: it is the direct result of the lack of resources, the absence of planning, and the erratic management that this Government and the Minister of Foreign Affairs have imposed on the consular network," they stated. In its response to that question from the PP, registered on February 9, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned that one of its “priorities” is “to provide adequate assistance and protection to Spanish citizens abroad, through the 178 Consular Offices of Spain” and assured that in 2025 “the largest quota of staff abroad in recent years was processed, with an increase of 43 percent compared to the previous year.”

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