The Diplomat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will save more than ten million euros per year with its return to the former headquarters of the Marqués de Salamanca in Madrid and the Government will allocate 4.8 million euros to prepare the rotating Presidency of the EU, as reported yesterday during a session of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Congress dedicated to the General State Budget for 2022.
According to the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Luis Cuesta, during his appearance, the move to the Marqués de Salamanca building will allow “a saving of more than 10 million euros per year in rent”, after the eviction of the current headquarters of Torres Ágora (which houses the central services) and Pechuán Street (where the Directorate General of Spaniards Abroad and Consular Affairs is located). The move to the new headquarters began last November 18, after the rehabilitation of the building was completed two years late. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has stated that the move could be completed in January.
During his speech, Cuesta explained that the Ministry will receive a total of 1,928.65 million euros in 2022, 4.13% more if the AECID and the Instituto Cervantes are included or 6% if both organizations are not included. Of this amount, 48.45 million will come from the European recovery funds and will be destined, above all, to the consular digital transformation. He also specified that the Government has “successfully” executed its right to acquire the Embassy building in London, with a total cost of 92 million euros to be paid in three installments.
The Undersecretary also informed that the Ministry will call in 2022 a total of 37 positions for the Diplomatic Career and recalled that the last promotion was the first parity in history. At present, he said, 29% of the almost 700 members of the diplomatic career are women. He also assured -in response to María del Carmen Martínez Granados, from Ciudadanos- that diplomats make up 97.5% of the current ambassadors, as opposed to political ambassadors.
EU Presidency and Coordination Office at Moncloa
For his part, the Secretary of State for the EU, Juan González-Barba, assured during his speech that the Government will allocate 4.8 million in 2022 to prepare for the rotating Presidency of the EU, which will be held by Spain in the second half of 2023. He also informed that the Government has decided to recover the General Secretariat for the EU, which existed until 2010 (during the previous rotating presidency), and the Coordination Office for the Spanish Presidency of the EU.
The creation of the Coordination Office was announced yesterday, precisely, by the State Gazette (BOE), which specified that this body will be “under the direct dependence” of the director of the Cabinet of the Presidency of the Government and will be responsible for “the functions of preparation, planning, coordination, monitoring and promotion of the activities necessary for the organization and development of the events related to the Spanish Presidency”, as well as “advising and assisting the President of the Government in matters related to the European Union and bilateral relations with European countries”. The head of the Office will have the rank of Undersecretary.
Fernández Trigo highlights the recovery of the Secretariat of State
For his part, the Secretary of State for Ibero-America and the Caribbean and Spanish in the World, Juan Fernández Trigo, informed the Commission that 95% of the budget of his Secretariat will go to the Cervantes Institute (76.4 million out of a total of almost 81 million) and that another 1.3 million euros will go to Casa de América.
During his speech, Fernández Trigo agreed with PP, Vox and Ciudadanos that this budget is meager for the importance that Spanish foreign policy attaches to Latin America, “a region to which perhaps we should allocate more human resources than we had a year ago”, because “we cannot take for granted the relationship with Latin America” or take for granted that “they will love us a lot” in a region in which “we have difficulties to make ourselves understood”. “If we do not manage to have a serious and solvent foreign policy in Latin America, it will be difficult to have it anywhere else, because we have a number of reasons, motivations and elements that naturally help us to carry out our projects,” he said.
In any case, Fernández Trigo highlighted the decision of Minister Albares to recover the Secretary of State, beyond the “millionaire deployment” of other agencies of the Ministry The Secretary of State for Ibero-America had been integrated by Albares’ predecessor, Arancha González Laya, in the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
The Secretary of State also defended the dialogue with Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua because “talking does not mean agreeing with them, nor whitewashing anything, but being present and trying to influence”, and expressed his “concern” about “the markedly populist tendencies” in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Belén Hoyo (PP) called during her speech for “a change of course” in Latin America and denounced “the benefits that Podemos has obtained from blood money coming from dictatorships” such as Venezuela.
Cooperation
On the other hand, the Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Pilar Cancela, informed yesterday before the Commission of International Cooperation of the Congress that the General Budgets foresee almost 1,300 million for official development aid (ODA) and that the objective of the Government is to achieve that in 2022 the ODA reaches 3,500 million euros (0.28% of the GDP), adding the contributions of the General State Administration, the territorial entities and the universities.
“This figure represents an increase of 93.4% over 2015,” when the lowest amounts were reached, and represent an increase of 391.62 million over 2021, he explained. “The Government is thus driving the largest increase in ODA in a decade and returns our aid volume to levels we have not seen since 2011,” added Cancela, who specified these funds will be allocated to the fight against poverty, the reduction of inequalities, gender equality and ecological transition in developing countries.
