The Diplomat
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, affirmed yesterday before the Congress that the Spanish influence was “decisive” in the European Councils of October and December 2022, in which measures were adopted to face the energy crisis, and assured that Spain will continue to support Ukraine “as long as the occupation lasts”. For its part, the PP warned that Ukraine urgently needs the arrival of Leopard battle tanks.
“Spain has supported and will continue to support” Ukraine “together with the European allies” all the time “that the occupation lasts” and also in “its task of reconstruction”, said Pedro Sánchez during his appearance before the plenary session of Congress to report on the results of the European Councils of October and December and on the measures adopted to respond to the crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.
In this regard, Sánchez recalled that the Government has allocated 38 million euros in humanitarian aid to the conflict zone and that 164,000 Ukrainians have received temporary protection and reside in Spain with full rights. He also highlighted the “unity, firmness and determination” demonstrated by the EU in the military, political, economic and humanitarian fields with the Ukrainian people. “Ukraine not only resists an invader, it resists in the face of a reactionary discourse that questions the values of the European project,” he added.
Sánchez’s appearance took place in the midst of the international debate on the sending of Leopard tanks to Ukraine, to which the President of the Government made no allusion. Who did was the secretary general of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, who warned that Ukraine “needs tanks and not appeasement proposals.” “Does he not realize that our freedoms will only be guaranteed if Putin is defeated?” continued Gamarra, who asked the head of the Executive if he is going to meet that demand or align himself with the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán.
On this matter, the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, acknowledged last summer -when the donation of these tanks to Ukraine was first discussed- that, of the 347 Leopard tanks that Spain has, about a hundred have been stored in Zaragoza for more than a decade in a “deplorable” state, as recalled yesterday by the Europa Press agency.
The European Councils
On the other hand, Pedro Sánchez recalled that the energy crisis was one of the dominant issues at the European Councils of October and December 2022. Specifically, the October Council approved a series of European Commission measures including a price cap on all gas imported into the EU, joint and centralized purchases of gas from third countries, a structural reform of the electricity market and the extension of the Iberian derogation to the whole of the EU. Likewise, the December Council approved (and the EU energy ministers corroborated four days later) a temporary correction mechanism to limit excessive gas prices, as well as a regulation for joint gas purchases and the revision of the reference indexes used by the EU to determine gas prices, and another regulation to accelerate the deployment of renewable energies.
According to the President of the Government, “Spain’s influence has been decisive” in the drafting, negotiation and approval of these three regulations, since, he assured, the agreed texts respond, to a large extent, “to the demands that Spain has been demanding since the beginning of the energy crisis”.
Likewise, the head of the Executive stated that in the last quarter of the year the European debate on the reform of the European electricity market intensified, which “Spain began to defend in September 2021, months before the Russian invasion in Ukraine”. Pedro Sánchez also recalled that Spain was the first country to submit a proposal to decouple the price of renewable energies from the price of gas, which “has received great support among the Member States”.
For his part, Gamarra also lashed out against the economic “triumphalism” of the Government, when Spain “leads the EU unemployment”, underlying inflation is 7% and mortgages have risen a measure of 250 euros. “Does this seem to you a source of pride?”s he asked. Likewise, the PP leader harshly criticized the law of the only yes is yes and the reductions in sentences for sex offenders.
After these words, the president of Congress, Meritxell Batet, asked her to address “the question of the appearance”, but Gamarra answered her that “she should have also reminded the president of the Government, who has referred to the royal decrees that have been validated today”, including the Royal Decree approved last December 27 by the Council of Ministers on “measures in response to the economic and social consequences of the war in Ukraine”.
