Eduardo González
The Popular Party has asked the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, why he did not attend a UN ministerial meeting on the Middle East that coincided with his appearance before the European Parliament and his participation in the General Affairs Council. of the European Union dedicated to official languages.
In a written parliamentary question presented on October 25, MP Pablo Hispán, of the PP, reminds Albares that, on October 24, foreign ministers “from all over the world” attended a ministerial meeting of the Council of UN Security to address the situation in the Middle East. “However,” he adds, “the Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, did not attend.”
For this reason, Hispán asks Albares if he considers that the situation in the Middle East “is not relevant enough to attend said meeting.” Likewise, he urges her to clarify “the reason why he was absent” and asks her if “the question about the number of translations that should exist in the EU is an issue of greater relevance than the current conflict in the Middle East.” “Does the minister consider that his agenda is in line with the interests of Spain?” He concludes.
Albares attended the meeting of the General Affairs Council (GAC) that day in Luxembourg to defend the proposal of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU for the reform of the European linguistic regime and the officialization of Catalan, Basque and Galician in the EU, a matter in which only the agreement was reached to “continue dealing with this matter”.
Hours later, the acting minister took advantage of his appearance before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (in which he explained the priorities of the Spanish Presidency in the Council of the EU in matters of foreign policy) to denounce the “hoaxes” launched by “the extreme right” to discredit Spain’s position regarding the Middle East conflict. “It pains me to see some Spanish MEPs spreading lies about the position of the Government of Spain,” said Albares during his appearance before the Foreign Affairs Committee in the European Parliament to explain the priorities of the Spanish Presidency in terms of foreign policy.
The day before the UN meeting, Albares attended the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) of the European Union, in Luxembourg, where he proposed to his EU counterparts the convening of an international peace conference in the Middle East that would allow for achieving “a definitive peace through the two-state solution.” The proposal was adopted three days later by the European Council at the request of the acting President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.
