José Manuel Albares Bueno
Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation
On 29 and 30 June in Madrid, Spain will host a NATO Summit that NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, has described as historic. We Allies reacted swiftly, firmly and unitedly to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, but now we must also strengthen the foundations of our security for the next decade. In Madrid, Allied Heads of State and Government will adopt a new Strategic Concept that will govern the life of the organisation for a decade, defining the organisation’s priorities and identifying the major threats it will face over the next decade.
Security on the eastern flank will be a major issue at the Madrid Summit. The Russian attack on Ukraine has brought a return to conventional warfare on the European continent. Spain is actively participating in the collective defence of this eastern flank and in efforts to bring peace back to Europe. But Spain has also been firm in its position that the southern flank must be reflected in the Madrid Strategic Concept and at the Summit. To this end, Foreign Ministers will have a working dinner on 29 June focused on this flank, and Heads of State and Government will address the southern neighbourhood in one of their sessions.
Spain is already making important efforts in the southern neighbourhood, as demonstrated by our participation in EUTM Mali and our chairmanship of the Sahel Alliance in support of the G5, but it is important to reinforce NATO’s engagement in a region where a number of threats are looming. It is good news that Mauritania and Jordan will participate in one of the Summit’s working sessions.
NATO has long taken a 360-degree approach to security, recognising that threats to our well-being can come from all directions and not just military threats. Today we are witnessing conventional aggression in the east, but this has been preceded and accompanied by hybrid attacks of different kinds. The cutting off or reduction of energy supplies and the unacceptable instrumentalisation of migration flows are a serious threat to our security and sovereignty. Tomorrow these threats could also occur on the southern flank, and therefore we cannot afford to neglect or ignore them.
NATO and EU coordination
The Madrid Summit should also act as an impetus to accelerate coordination between NATO and the EU. Collaboration between the two organisations is already very intense, as it could not be otherwise with 21 states, hopefully soon to be 23, members of both organisations.
If there were any remaining doubts about the complementarity between the two organisations, the allied and European reaction to the war in Ukraine has dispelled them all: while NATO has reinforced the troops deployed to ensure effective deterrence of any armed attack against any allied territory, the EU has adopted in record time several extremely ambitious sanctions packages, and has also activated for the first time the European Peace Facility to provide the Ukrainian authorities with the necessary material to defend their sovereignty and territorial integrity.
It is necessary to advance along this open path and further strengthen NATO-EU coordination mechanisms, because we are convinced that far from weakening or generating duplication, the construction of a Europe of Defence strengthens NATO’s capacity to defend the transatlantic area. Here, too, it is important that a Euro-Atlantic dinner will be held in Madrid for the first time in the organisation’s history, bringing together the leaders of all the Member States of both organisations, as a symbol of the absolute unity of two communities of democracies that share the same values.
Our country has taken on a great responsibility by offering to host the most important NATO Summit in decades, a crucial Summit, adding to the daily commitment of our diplomats and armed forces to NATO missions abroad. Thanks also to their efforts, the Summit will be a success. We will work hard to promote the adoption of a new Strategic Concept that will enable NATO to continue to guarantee the security of the Spanish people, our sovereignty, our prosperity and our democratic values in the Euro-Atlantic area.
