Parliament calls for a national plan for cooperation with NATO’s southern neighbors

The Diplomat The Joint Congress-Senate Committee on Insularity approved on Tuesday a non-binding resolution from the Popular Parliamentary Group urging the Government to develop a national action plan that “identifies opportunities for cooperation” with NATO's southern neighbors “with the aim of improving national and regional security through trust-building and mutual understanding.” The text, approved with 20 votes in favor, 13 against, and one abstention in the Clara Campoamor room of the Upper House, recalls that the report “NATO's Comprehensive and In-Depth Reflection Process on the Southern Neighborhood,” previously commissioned by the Alliance's Secretary General to a Group of Experts, was presented during the 2024 NATO Summit held in Washington. The report asserts that, thirty years after the establishment of NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue and two decades after the launch of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, the Alliance's cooperation and proximity initiatives with these regions have room to grow through new approaches, new channels, and new areas to which this engagement can be directed. Furthermore, the report establishes a series of guiding principles for NATO and its member countries' actions regarding relations with the countries of the "southern neighborhood," which the report defines in a pluralistic sense, considering the existence of diverse scenarios such as North Africa, the Middle East, the Sahel, and the maritime areas adjacent to these regions. "The Alliance's commitment to its southern neighbors is based on the long-standing understanding that its security is closely intertwined with that of North Africa, the Middle East, the Sahel, and beyond," the non-binding resolution from the People's Party (PP) states. “Spain, being located in the southern part of the Atlantic Alliance and more concerned with the purposes and content of this report, should demonstrate the greatest interest and effort to ensure that the Alliance’s preferential attention to its southern neighbors is implemented in the most consistent and proactive manner, identifying opportunities where the actions and recommendations included in this report can be applied,” the approved text continues. Therefore, the non-binding resolution urges the Government to “develop a National Action Plan that, in accordance with the recommendations formulated by the Atlantic Alliance Expert Group, identifies opportunities for cooperation with southern neighbors with the aim of improving national and regional security through trust-building and mutual understanding.” The approved text also urges the Executive Branch to “present this report to the respective Defense Committees of both Houses of Parliament, in order to monitor the evolution of the situation in the southern neighborhood and the actions implemented by Spain and its allies in this regard.”

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