Chancellor of Spain: “45 billion euros were mobilized for European investment in Latin America”

In an exclusive interview with EL TIEMPO, a media outlet belonging to Grupo Diarios América (GDA), the Spanish chancellor, José Manuel Albares, spoke from New York about plans for Spain put Latin America back at the center of the European agenda.

““45 billion euros were mobilized for European investment in Latin America”said the Spanish chancellor in dialogue with this newspaper.

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He also spoke about common challenges such as migration, defending democracy and climate change.

What is your mission during the 78th UN General Assembly?

There are two themes that mark this week of the United Nations General Assembly, which is the place where all representatives of the world’s countries discuss and address global challenges. On the one hand, there is everything to do with sustainable development goals, international financing and the fight against the climate emergency that plagues us year after year. Unfortunately, the Russian aggression against Ukraine is also very present, that illegal, unjust and unjustified war against Ukraine and against the principles of the United Nations Charter. My role is to bring Spain’s voice to all these forums, but also the voice of the European Union, because Spain is currently the country that holds the presidency of the European Union.

Precisely, from the temporary presidency of the EU, how do you seek to face the great global challenge of climate change?

This climate emergency, year after year, makes our summers longer, temperature peaks higher, reduces biodiversity, causes fires in unexpected places. Therefore, we have a joint commitment to combat it, to develop renewable energy, to favor all policies that manage and maintain biodiversity, to also make a commitment to these great international spaces such as the defense of the Amazon in every way. .

How viable does Spain see the possibility of the EU joining new nations to the bloc, including Ukraine?

The enlargement of the European Union is something that Spain has always been in favor of. Naturally, under the Presidency of the European Union, we do not seek to focus only on those who have recently had candidate status, such as Ukraine or Moldova, but there is a European perspective for Georgia and the Western Balkans, with which we will maintain an engagement with them precisely to continue advancing on this path. At the moment, we are all waiting for what is called in Brussels jargon the “enlargement package” that will arrive in October, where the Commission will present its report. Spain will spare no effort to move forward, as soon as this report is available, to everyone involved.

We pay special attention to the case of Ukraine, because it presents a challenge that no candidate country for the European Union has ever presented, which is to have a war in its own country, a war that Ukraine does not want, a war of illegal aggression. of Russia against Ukraine. But at the same time, this means that we also have to take into account the specificity of what we are going to request and within what time frame, because Ukraine is in a very difficult situation. This war is, of course, a war for the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine, but it is also a war in defense of European values.

Recently, he stated that he is convinced that Latin America and the Caribbean are the most Eurocompatible region on the planet. How does Spain seek to reflect this in the biannual presidency of the European Union?

I say it often because it is a deep conviction and, above all, I say it systematically to my European colleagues at the table in Brussels. I always explain to them that with Latin America and the Caribbean we share languages, in the plural, Spanish is one of them, but there are many others that we also share part of the origins of the Latin American population that comes from Europe. Increasingly, part of the European population originates from Latin America.

We share economic and business ties, but above all we share values. And this is what makes Latin America and the Caribbean the most Eurocompatible region on the planet: the rejection of war to resolve conflicts between States, the desire for peace, the search for joint development, the defense of multilateralism and the Charter of the United Nations. 45 billion euros were mobilized for European investment in Latin America. It is established that the summits will once again be permanent every two years, instead of having to wait 8 years as happened to hold this European Union-Celac summit since the previous one. And there will be a monitoring mechanism.

Of the 45 billion euros of investment, could you specify in which lines of action this aid will begin to be implemented?

We are still in the process of defining it, but it is clear that what we are looking for is greater connectivity, greater digital connectivity, to also advance in the fight against climate change, investing in green hydrogen and renewable energy. All these important chapters, the digital transition and the green transition, are central to the Global Gateway agenda, which is what the European Union’s investment agenda is called.

Spain broke a population record, among other reasons, thanks to migration from nations like Colombia and Venezuela. Why focus on regularizing immigration instead of closing borders?

It is clear that no Colombian, and I would say no Latin American, is a foreigner in Spain, just as no Spaniard feels like a foreigner in Latin America. There are ties of all types, cultural, linguistic, historical, but above all human and sentimental, that go both ways. Only the United States has and welcomes more Colombians than Spain.

There are autonomous communities, Madrid, the Autonomous Community where I come from, or the Canary Islands, where Colombians represent a very important part of the population and participate and are perfectly integrated. And I want to highlight this, in Spanish social life and help Spain’s economic growth and demographic sustainability.

Across Europe, the population is aging and the birth rate is falling. And it is also necessary for our work environment and for our economic situation that people come from outside to help with this economic growth. And above all, when they are people like the Colombians who are now perfectly integrated in Spain. And beyond that, I always remember that we have to be tireless in the fight against the mafias that traffic human beings, but that there is no better disincentive to irregular emigration than offering regular migration channels like the ones Spain has with Latin America. .

Can Spain then serve as an example to show an effective solution to the European migration crisis and the urgent need to leverage common efforts?

Spain has always been in favor of a European pact on migration and asylum, the migration challenge is a European challenge and therefore the answer can only be European. It is a challenge that Spain knows well because we are a first-entry country. The Iberian Peninsula is located 14 km from Africa and Spain has land borders in Ceuta and Melilla with Africa. Therefore, we know the phenomenon well and when the Italian route is growing by more than 300 percent, the route through Spain has fallen drastically and this is based on a triple approach that has been successful.

A political dialogue at the highest level with countries of origin and transit of migration, a tireless fight against mafias that traffic human beings and development cooperation programs that make it possible to offer opportunities to countries sending migration. We have tripled our development cooperation with African countries and what is clear is that we cannot resign ourselves to the fact that the Mediterranean, the Atlantic route through the Canary Islands to Europe, is year after year the tomb of thousands of people innocent.

From your perspective, how can we improve the relationship between democracy and a citizenry that is increasingly disenchanted with the government model and which threatens to open space for more dictatorships and authoritarian regimes?

It is a serious problem all over the world. We saw how the parliaments of the United States or Brazil were attacked, unthinkable things. And at this moment, Russian aggression against Ukraine is also an aggression against the democratic values ​​of plurality, diversity and sovereign equality of States. In Europe, European values, their democratic values ​​of tolerance, of plurality, are being attacked from outside our borders with the Russian region up to Ukraine, but also from within our borders we see how the extreme right-wing forces, which They despise everything that is the basis of democracy: tolerance, plurality, diversity, those who want to impose the law of the strongest, are growing. And in the face of them, we, democrats, have to unite and we have to face them, because democracy is not an acquired global public good, it is something that we have to defend and build every day. And, of course, the Government of Spain is where it is.

Mr Minister, will the Spanish semi-annual presidency of the European Union remain solid, regardless of the government formation we may have in the coming months after the general elections a few months ago?

It is clear that the Spanish presidency of the European Union was conceived as a country project, together with all political forces, with the autonomous communities. Only the Popular Party has excluded itself from this country’s project and has tried to politicize the presidency, not participating in the meetings I held with Spanish MEPs in the European Parliament or writing letters to the European institutions so that the meetings could not be held • European Union Meetings in Spain. But, except for that political force that has always tried to sabotage and politicize the Spanish presidency of the European Union, the presidency is moving forward, moving forward as a country project, moving forward with meetings throughout Spain, because it is also not the political agenda of a person or a political party, is Europe’s political agenda. We have already had great successes. That European Union-CELAC summit, a before and after in the relationship with Latin America, very important regulations with regard to combating climate change, with regard to artificial intelligence, fundamental meetings to provide the support that Ukraine needs right now. All of this is the result of the leadership of the Spanish Presidency of the European Union.

STEPHANY ECHAVARRÍA

INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHER

THE TIME

Source: Elcomercio

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