Robles announces the end of the support mission in Cyprus after France’s decision to divert towards Hormuz

Eduardo González Defense Minister Margarita Robles announced this Monday in Congress that the frigate Méndez Núñez has ended its defense mission in Cyprus following the decision by the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, which it was supporting, to divert towards the Strait of Hormuz. During her address to the Defense Committee of Congress, Robles recalled that, at the beginning of the United States' war against Iran, Spain decided to send the frigate Cristóbal Colón to Cyprus – “which was part of the naval battle group of the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle” within the framework of “NATO's forward presence operations” – for “the protection of that country, which was being directly affected by the exchange of ballistic missiles.” Furthermore, she continued, “on April 7, the frigate Méndez Núñez, with 191 military personnel on board—147 men and 44 women—relieved the frigate Cristóbal Colón.” From then until May 5, she specified, “the frigate Méndez Núñez remained integrated” into this “multinational naval group with the essential and fundamental purpose of protecting Cyprus.” The battle group was comprised, throughout that period, “in addition to the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and successively the frigates Cristóbal Colón and Méndez Núñez, of the French frigates Chevalier Paul, Provence, Alsace, and Lafayette, as well as the supply ship Jacques Chevalier, along with the contribution of the Italian frigate YPF Alpino; the Dutch frigate NHLMS Eversen also participated at certain times.” Following that “deployment in support of Cyprus, with the authorization—not only the authorization, but also the gratitude—of the Cypriot government, which requested it,” the French government decided in early May that the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle would change its objective and head northeast in the Indian Ocean, crossing the Suez Canal, “to position itself in the Hormuz area,” Robles explained. “The French government informed us that the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle was going to Hormuz,” she added. “It was then that Spain decided that this integration no longer made sense, because it did not fulfill the objectives set by NATO, nor the objectives of protecting Cyprus,” she stated. As a result, “the integration of the frigate Méndez Núñez into the battle group was terminated, which took place on May 5,” a decision made “with the knowledge and after appropriate discussions with the Government of the Republic of Cyprus,” she added. Finally, she explained, the crew of the frigate Méndez-Núñez returned to their base in Ferrol “on May 15th.”ç For his part, Carlos Rojas García, of the People’s Parliamentary Group, referred to the deployment of the frigate Cristóbal Colón to Cyprus to criticize the Government for not having requested parliamentary authorization for that deployment. “Do you know how many times they have requested authorization to participate in missions of our Armed Forces as outlined in Article 17 of the National Defense Law? Not once since 2018, since they came to power,” he denounced. Txema Guijarro García, of Sumar (the junior partner in the coalition government), took advantage of the mention of the frigate's deployment to Cyprus to criticize Israel's recent attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla, which occurred, precisely, southwest of the island. “Why isn’t the frigate we have in Cyprus operating to prevent acts of piracy in international waters, as is happening right now, at this very moment as I speak to you, Madam Minister? Isn’t it blatant, isn’t it extremely serious that this is happening and nothing is being done about it?” he asked.

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