The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, assured yesterday in Congress that the budget of his Department will increase by 14.26% in 2023 to exercise “a firm, decisive and committed foreign action to protect our citizens, our families and our companies”. In his reply, the PP assured that, for this Government, the foreign image of Spain is limited to President Pedro Sánchez “taking a photo book with all possible leaders”.
“The vaccines we take to protect ourselves against COVID-19, the currency we use, our security, can only be guaranteed by working together with our partners, friends and allies in the world,” said the minister during his appearance before the plenary session of the Congress of Deputies to defend the item corresponding to his department of the General State Budget Bill for the year 2023.
“That is why a firm, decisive, committed foreign action is necessary to protect our citizens, our families and our companies, and to project our values in the world, and, for this reason, the budget of the department I lead for 2023 amounts to 2,009 million euros, which represents an increase of 14.26% in relation to that of 2022,” he continued.
This increase means “250.73 million euros more, in absolute terms, to carry out a foreign policy at the service of Spanish citizens and to deepen the modernization of the Spanish Foreign Service, and all this to continue working on the priority lines of our foreign action,” he said.
The Government’s foreign action, he assured, is based on five priorities: to ensure that “peace returns to Europe as soon as possible and thus guarantee the security of the Spanish people, supporting multilateralism and the United Nations to solve the global problems we are facing”, maintaining “our commitment to Official Development Aid and cooperation to face the food crisis, the energy crisis and the energy crisis, the energy crisis and the humanitarian crisis that are currently ravaging the world”, project Spain “with strength and lead Europe during our Presidency of the EU in the second half of next year”, promote “our common language and our co-official languages and our culture in the world” and “guarantee the attention and protection of the almost three million Spaniards living abroad”.
In her reply, the PP Foreign Affairs spokeswoman, Valentina Martínez, criticized the “deterioration of Spain’s image abroad”. “You believe that the image of Spain is that Sánchez takes a photo book with all possible leaders.” “That would require height of vision and a serious and rigorous work”, but the Government has opted for “the easy thing”, continued Martínez.
Likewise, the spokesperson criticized the Government’s disinformation on issues of major interest in external action, such as the negotiations between the EU and the United Kingdom on Gibraltar, the opening of commercial customs in Ceuta and Melilla, relations with Algeria or the program and priorities of the Spanish Presidency. “What we do have clear is that they are going to make a great photo book, which is what counts”.
