Arancha González Laya
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs
Luis Ayllón
On the occasion of the Tenth Anniversary of The Diplomat in Spain, we have interviewed the people who held the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs in that decade, addressing their management at that time.
Arancha González Laya (San Sebastián, 1969) was Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation from January 2020 to July 2021. Graduated in Law from the University of Navarra, she was Chief of Staff to Pascal Lamy when he was Director General of the World Trade Organization and later headed the International Trade Centre (ICC). She left that position after being called by Pedro Sánchez to be part of his second Government. She speaks Basque, Spanish, English, French, German and Italian and has been Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po since 2022.
-How did you get the call from the Prime Minister to take over the Ministry?
-Well, while travelling in Africa. I was on a mission in Ethiopia, leaving a meeting with the President of the country and I got a call on my mobile from the Office of the Prime Minister, saying that he wanted to see me in Spain, and which led to an offer from him to join the Spanish government to take over the portfolio of Foreign Affairs, Europe and Cooperation. The truth is that I had been away from Spain for 20 years, working first in the private sector, then in the European Union, then in multilateral organisations… And of course, I accepted his call because for someone who has worked in the public sector and with conviction, serving one’s country is the highest thing one can aspire to.
-Did the call surprise you?
-Well, of course it surprises you, because it’s not every day that the president of your government calls you and, above all, it’s not every day that you’re offered the position of foreign minister. But, on the other hand, it’s also true that I had a broad background in the international world, I had worked in the European institutions, that is, I had a past that made me a possible candidate. Obviously, there are a few others who could have been offered it, but well, I took it as a recognition of a long, very honorable career and of course, with a lot of humility, because if the call fills you with satisfaction, it also changes your life, which is actually what happens when you become a minister, it changes your life.
-You had to live through a tough time with Covid. How did it affect your work at the Ministry?
-Of course, no one was prepared for a pandemic and also on the scale with which we saw it spread and affect our country. But it was also a time when I attended and contributed to building solutions that I would never have imagined possible. And these solutions were, above all, solutions for greater integration in the European Union. Now we take them for granted, but with the passage of time we will realise how revolutionary these decisions were, which were taken to integrate the European Union, with a recovery plan that for the first time crosses the Rubicon of community debt to make investments in all Member States. For the first time, it also puts health in community policies, something that had never happened before. And for the first time in the face of a crisis, and especially after the 2008 crisis, Europe opted for solidarity instead of each man holding his own candle. And that was, in the midst of this calamity that Covid represented, also an enormously important moment for European construction. And having been there and having contributed to the construction of these solutions, the truth is that for me it has been a source of pride and above all being able to leave a small mark on European history, which for someone who is a convinced Europeanist, as I am, this is very important.
-Let’s go to specific issues that happened during that period. For example, did you know about the arrival of the Vice President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, to Spain?
-Well, she arrives when I am in Brussels, at a Foreign Affairs Council. I am kept informed and obviously, I inform the people responsible for border management in our country of the fact that this person is sanctioned by the community institutions so that the necessary measures can be taken and that Spain can comply with international law, as it did.
-How was the relationship with Mexico, in the midst of President López Obrador’s attacks on Spain?
-Well, it was certainly a curious situation, because it is true that there was a very, very incessant noise on the part of President López Obrador, but then there was an enormous community of interests at the business level, there was an enormous community of interests at the institutional level. I, in fact, had the opportunity to travel to Mexico and my Mexican counterpart from Foreign Affairs came to Spain. I had the opportunity during my trip to Mexico to discuss, debate, and share, from the mayor of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, who is now replacing López Obrador as President of the country, to many others. In other words, a huge community of interests at the business, institutional and, of course, city level, with an incredible affection from Spain towards Mexico and from Mexico towards Spain. But with this incessant noise from the president, well, we didn’t give it much importance, because it seemed to us that it was a distraction in the middle of what should have been solid relations between two sister countries and that’s how we managed it. But also on the part of the Mexican system, with a great understanding and with a great complicity with so many ministers, the ambassador, we sought to bring common sense, bring affection and provide solutions in the middle of statements that were sometimes a bit untimely.
-How did you experience the crisis with Bolivia with the expulsion of the chargé d’affaires?
-When I arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the crisis had already occurred, with the somewhat bizarre arrival of President Jeanine Áñez to the Government, but I had the opportunity to redirect these relations and above all to attend the inauguration of President Lucho Arce together with the king and thus seal the end of a somewhat turbulent episode and, in truth, unpleasant for Spanish diplomats, who had to face a level of hostility not very usual between two countries that, on the other hand, have excellent relations. Then, I worked on redirecting relations between Bolivia and Spain, giving them a normality and seeking to leave behind this somewhat curious episode.
-Also with Nicaragua, the conflict had not yet been reached, because the ambassador was still in Managua, but it was already beginning to be glimpsed, wasn’t it?
-Well, I also had long conversations with my Nicaraguan counterpart, with the Nicaraguan authorities, at a time of great deterioration in the political environment, in the respect for individual freedoms, with an increase in the number of people imprisoned, journalists, the opposition, businessmen and with great concern on the part of the Spanish Government about a situation that was deteriorating and to which, to us, a response had to be given. First, of course, the response was to seek a dialogue with the authorities, being firm, when it is true that the authorities were looking for all kinds of subterfuges to justify what to us seemed unjustifiable. And as it seemed to us, it seemed to the majority of countries in the international community and especially in the Latin American region, where there was clearly rejection of this repressive policy of the Nicaraguan government that continues.
-Another of the issues that occupied you quite a bit was Gibraltar, with the New Year’s Eve agreement in 2020. More than three and a half years have passed and we still do not have a solution for the application of Brexit to the Rock, while we maintain some advantages for the Gibraltarians, which were only going to be for a short time. But how was that negotiation? Are you sorry that an agreement could not be reached?
-Well, for someone who has spent a significant part of his life negotiating agreements with other countries, this was putting into practice much of what I had done in my life. It was woven with a lot of patience, it was woven with firmness, it was done understanding what the red lines were for both parties. Sovereignty was a red line for the United Kingdom, but it is also for Spain, clearly. But understanding that beyond those red lines, there was a whole space for understanding to manage the interdependence that exists in the field of Gibraltar, both on the Spanish side and on the British side. It is clear that for the Gibraltarians this was not a minor issue.
-A large majority of Gibraltarians voted against Brexit…
-Indeed: more than 97% of Gibraltarians voted in favour of remaining within the European Union. A clearly different response from that of England. And I think that the Gibraltarians had a very deep sense of understanding that there is a problem of interdependence, of human trafficking, that is, of the passage of people from one side to the other, of work permits, of fiscal issues, of environmental issues, of customs issues, of sharing of certain services that seemed to us could be the subject of negotiation and of an agreement to manage it intelligently. I think that is the result of the negotiation. That is the result of the agreement of December 31, 2020, in extremis, negotiating in the last few days, almost 24 hours straight, including at ministerial level with my counterpart Dominic Raab, but reaching an agreement, which is basically the agreement that will end up being ratified. In other words, the essence of the agreement was reached at that time. There were some issues, some loose ends. It is true that in the meantime there were ministerial changes in the United Kingdom, there were ministerial changes in Spain, there were elections and all this has delayed the final conclusion of this agreement, but I believe that it will be reached, or I hope that it will be reached, because it is the only intelligent way to manage this interdependence, but also at a time of great geopolitical hostility at a global level to prevent this place from being a point of geopolitical weakness for both the United Kingdom and Spain.
-Let’s go to the matter of the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali. Was it his personal decision that Ghali should come to Spain or was it a decision of the president of the government?
-Let’s see. A country, Spain, welcomes a Spanish citizen, Brahim Ghalli, to be treated for Covid in Spain. In short, it seems to me to be the most debated issue, but with the least reasons to be debated, in our recent history. A Spanish citizen is welcomed by his country to be treated for Covid and this is as simple as that. That should have been the headline that caused so many rivers of ink to fall.
-But, was the decision taken in Moncloa or was it taken in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?
-That is an absolutely unnecessary question that we would never ask ourselves if it were another Spanish citizen and that, therefore, we do not have to ask ourselves when it is about this citizen.
-Is that why, in this case, Morocco is not informed of that decision either?
-No, no, no. Let’s see, each and every one of the steps proper to a diplomatic relationship with a neighbouring and friendly country were followed, each and every one. And it was done with the understanding, of course, that it was a neighbouring and friendly country, but I think that should not be an obstacle for Spain to welcome a Spanish citizen for treatment in Spain.
-But, do you think the matter was handled well? So, after what happened, do you think that perhaps it should have been done differently?
-I have absolutely nothing to reproach anyone for the way in which the arrival of a Spanish citizen to our country, to Spain, is managed. In any case, I do not try to remake History once history is written. What I do believe is that history will recognise the scrupulous attention of a country to its citizens. During Covid we had the opportunity to deal with many cases of many citizens. That of Brahim Ghali was one of them. I believe that history will have to go down in history that Spain took care of one of its citizens, also to deal with Covid. And History will also have to write that it would have perhaps been important for everyone to respect this decision, taking into account that it was about the management of a country, of its citizens, and not to get into back and forth or link this decision to other issues with which it had nothing to do. And that was communicated to all interested parties in the most direct way possible.
-Do you think your dismissal had anything to do with this?
-No, I don’t, never. My appointment is decided by the President of the Government and my dismissal is decided by the President of the Government and it is up to him to make the decision. In any case, I have lived with great honour in the two years that I was there, almost two years that I was at the head of Spanish diplomacy. I felt enormously proud of contributing to putting Spain in its rightful place in Europe, forging agreements internationally, exercising international solidarity at a very complicated time for everyone such as Covid, managing those more complicated relationships and seeking to continue forging relationships with all countries, in particular with all the countries of the Mediterranean. I had the opportunity to travel to each and every one of them, even to countries from which Spain had been absent in the last five or six years, because I understood that the Mediterranean region, as the facts have shown, was enormously important for our country. I would like to remind you that I also travelled to Palestine and Israel, that I had the opportunity to meet with the president and the prime minister in both, and that I expressed to both of them at the time the importance of moving towards a two-state solution. And we are talking about the year 2021, at a time when the Abraham Accords on normalisation of relations between Arab countries and Israel had overshadowed the Palestinian problem.
-Another of the things that were done during your stay in the Ministry was the Foreign Action Strategy. Are you particularly proud of that?
-A foreign action strategy had not been made since the one made by Margallo, I think, as in 2014. It was an obligation in Spain to make it and to do it in a consensual manner and to do it by debating it with all the political, economic and social forces as was done, seeking to build a broad consensus in Spain’s foreign action, also uniting autonomous communities that also have a space in the foreign action of our country. Also with the unions and civil society, debating it in Congress and the Senate and ultimately approving it in the Council of Ministers. What I am very proud of is the way, not only what was put into that foreign action strategy, which frankly, if one reads it, one realizes that it has already anticipated many of the issues that we have experienced in these last two years, but above all a method of doing things, a method through dialogue, consensus, discussion, involving everyone as a way of doing things at a time when polarization is so fashionable. We seek to join forces in a policy that, in order to work, has to be as consensual as possible, which is foreign policy.
-What are you most satisfied with from your time at the Ministry?
-The results, without a doubt. The results achieved. Of having contributed to negotiating the first debt mutualisation agreement in Europe to jointly invest in the response to Covid, which was so different from 2008. Of the Foreign Action Strategy, which lays the foundations for what has been the deployment of Spanish foreign policy since it was built. Of having built a feminist foreign policy, and not only having built it, but having applied it, because if it is not applied, the truth is that it does not have much credibility. Of having built a plan for our relations with African countries. Of having, in short, made a very particular focus on the Mediterranean countries, with the conflict between Israel and Palestine and that of Libya at the centre of interest. Also, of having approached the Gulf countries to deploy an economic and investment diplomacy that is ultimately materialising. Of having worked with the US and China, two countries today in the midst of a great geopolitical rivalry. Of having built the agreement for the arrival of the NATO summit in Madrid. All of these were achievements, results of my time in Foreign Affairs. I do not take credit for the successes, I think that the successes are due to a serious, solid, committed Spanish diplomacy, with which I had the enormous honour of working and of which I felt and continue to feel extremely proud.
-And would you change anything you did or do you miss not having been able to do something?
-Yes, of course I miss not having been able to do many more things, but I do not practice regret, because regret does not make much sense when one cannot change the past. The only thing one can do is learn from the past to integrate it into one’s future action. I consider that trying to remake history is a little futile and therefore I do not practice it. But of course there are so many things that I would have liked to continue working on, but I stick with all the things that were done in this short but very intense period of my time at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
