The Diplomat
The President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, reiterated yesterday before the Parliamentary Assembly of the Atlantic Alliance (NATO), held in Madrid, that Spain has provided “substantial support” to Ukraine at the military level through a contribution of nearly 270 million euros to the European Peace Support Fund, the donation of anti-aircraft missiles, generators and vehicles and participation in the training mission of the European Union.
“Spain, Europe, all the democracies represented here in this Assembly, we are lovers of peace and of the defense of an international order based on rules,” said Sánchez during his address to the plenary of the 68th NATO Parliamentary Assembly. “That is why, again here in Madrid, it would be good for all of us to send a resounding message to Vladimir Putin to leave Ukraine alone, to respect its territorial integrity, its national sovereignty and its ability to choose freely about its future,” he continued. “Until that happens, we will all remain united with Ukraine in its struggle for freedom,” he added.
According to the President of the Government, “NATO has been able to demonstrate the very need for its existence, because it has reacted promptly and with determination, transmitting to our societies a message of unity and cohesion in defense of democracy.” “It has done so, moreover, with intelligence and moderation, avoiding at all times an escalation of unpredictable consequences that no one wants,” continued Pedro Sánchez, who gave as examples of the strengthening of the Alliance the adoption of the new Strategic Concept at the Madrid Summit, held last June, and the accession processes of Finland and Sweden.
“As President of the Government of Spain, it has been a source of pride to see the way in which men and women of my country have understood that Ukraine’s cause is their own,” Sanchez stressed. “First of all, we have carried out substantial support at the military level, backing Ukraine’s legitimate right to defend its independence and territorial integrity,” he continued. “That is why we are contributing from Spain with almost 270 million euros to the European Peace Support Fund for the sending of military material within the framework of the European Union,” he recalled. Likewise, he continued, “we have donated anti-aircraft missile systems, generators and vehicles of different configurations.” “We have and will continue to work on the delivery of material for the legitimate defense of Ukraine,” Pedro Sanchez assured.
“We are also training Ukrainian military personnel in the delivered systems and we are going to participate in the training mission of the European Union, configuring a training center in a capital very close to here, to the capital of Spain (Toledo)” which “we hope will start operating at the end of this month,” the chief executive said. “In addition, my country has increased its military presence in Latvia”, which “already amounts to more than 600 troops, and we are actively participating in the naval and air deployments of the Alliance to strengthen its deterrence capacity against Putin”, he added.
On the humanitarian front”, he explained, “Spain has allocated to Ukraine the largest aid package ever undertaken by my country for a single country, amounting to 38 million euros, and we have taken in more than 135,000 Ukrainians under temporary protection, with some 35,000 minors attending school”.
Pedro Sánchez also informed that “a few weeks ago the team that will prepare the deployment of Spanish police units to support the Ukrainian authorities in the investigation of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity arrived in Ukraine” and is “already participating in international efforts to lay the foundations for the reconstruction of Ukraine”. “At the Lugano conference last July, Spain announced 250 million euros in contributions,” he said.
Meeting with NATO Secretary General
In the margins of the meeting, the President of the Government held a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to discuss the evolution of the commitments acquired during the Madrid Summit, the next NATO Summit in Lithuania and the international geopolitical situation.
During the meeting, the two leaders discussed the need to maintain reinforced support for NATO’s southern partners, such as Mauritania and Tunisia, as part of the so-called 360° approach to threats, and Pedro Sánchez expressed his concern about Russia’s decision to target electric power and water supply facilities and warned that recent events in Poland show that everything possible must be done to prevent the conflict from escalating. Sanchez and Stoltenberg also discussed the accession process of Sweden and Finland to the Atlantic Alliance.
The Parliamentary Assembly
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly, held between November 18 and 21 at the Spanish Parliament in Madrid, brought together 269 parliamentarians from the 30 member countries (in the case of Spain there was no member of the minority partner in government, Unidas Podemos) and a hundred members of the Chambers of 15 partner countries and of the eight delegations of parliamentary observers. The purpose of the meeting was to evaluate the implementation of the decisions adopted last June at the NATO Summit regarding the new Strategic Concept, the support to Ukraine and the response to the Russian threat.
On Saturday, the Economy and Security Committee met, with the participation of the First Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economy and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño; the Political Committee, with the intervention of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares; the Democracy and Security Committee, which heard the Minister of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory, Félix Bolaños; and the Defense and Security Committee, in which the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, intervened.
In yesterday’s plenary session, which was opened by the Speaker of the Assembly, Gerald E. Connolly, the President of the Senate, Ander Gil; the President of the Congress of Deputies, Meritxell Batet; the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez; the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg; the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky; and the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, Olha Stefanishyna, who was awarded the second annual Women for Peace and Security Prize by the Assembly. The motions for resolutions agreed upon in the commissions were also discussed and voted upon.
