Tuesday, March 26

The socialist wing of the Government redoubles contacts with United We Can after the tensions over Ukraine


The new nervous breakdown government coalition experienced last week, in full tension over a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, has forced the socialist bloc to redouble contacts with United We Can to avoid that his refusal to a hypothetical sending of troops to the area leads to another internal problem. Throughout the weekend, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Second Vice President, Yolanda Díaz, have addressed this issue. According to sources close to Díaz, through his teams. Other government sources assure that they have spoken directly, as published The Newspaper of Spain.

the purple formation asked the PSOE for explanations after Defense Minister Margarita Robles advanced last Thursday that advanced the shipment of the frigate ‘Blas de Lezo’ of the Navy to the mission of the OTAN in the Black Sea and Spain offered to deploy fighters in Bulgaria, when it was still unknown what could happen in Ukraine and what the response of the Atlantic Alliance will be. Still today there is no certainty, beyond the fact that the meeting in Geneva held on Friday between the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, and the Russian Foreign Minister, Serguei Lavrov, has allowed us to buy some time.

Robles’ announcement created the impression that Spain was in favor of actively participating in this confrontation and put United We Can totally against it, in what marked the beginning of a campaign, in social networks and with public statements, which connected this opposition with the “No to war”, which was minted during the invasion of Iraq. Although the next day the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, tried to reduce this warlike climate, he assured that “we cannot go back to times, not even as a hypothesis, in which the resolution of conflicts is through armed force” and framed Defense actions in Spain’s contribution to “peace operations”, several conversations within the Executive have been necessary so that this issue does not end up spilling over.

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more contacts

In addition, Sánchez y Díaz, the Minister of the Presidency, Felix Bolanos, has also maintained contact with the Minister of Social Rights and the 2030 Agenda, Ione Belarra, to make the Spanish position clear. The dialogue between them is common but usually always to resolve wrongs or clarify the position of each party. Although the reference in the Government of the purple bloc is Yolanda Díaz, Belarra plays her own role as Secretary General of United We Can.

These conversations are what have avoided a confrontation between ministers. No one from the United We Can block has spoken. In Moncloa they cling to this. They assure that “in the Government there has been no difference and it has been something of Podemos party“In fact, some of the sources consulted acknowledge that the public discrepancy of some purple minister could have had an international impact. And although Pablo Iglesias, increasingly present in the political debate, has been very critical on this issue, his departure of the Executive completely dilutes the effects of his pronouncements in the face of NATO or EU countries, something that did happen when he was part of the Executive.

The process of Congress

The our country’s contribution was already valued previously in the commitments with NATO and no new decision has been made or directly linked to the tension between Russia and Ukraine. Spain contributes, as it has done so far, in “dissuasion” operations. If the Government finally chose to increase its military presence the endorsement of the Congress of Deputies and, with the current composition, it could only obtain it with the support of the PP. Neither United We Can nor its investiture partners seem inclined to grant it.

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Only Robles’ remark has already set off sparks among the coalition partners that have been fading in recent hours, thanks to contacts within the Executive at various levels, since the socialist bloc has redirected its initial position and has begun to emphasize that it is time for “dialogue” and “diplomacy”. On Monday Albares explained at a press conference in Brussels, after participating in the Foreign Affairs Council, that they have not considered evacuating diplomatic personnel from Spain, something that the US has decided, and made a “call for calm”.

Albares gives explanations

With this message of calm appears this Tuesday urgently and at his own request in the Congress of Deputies. The test of whether the coalition government has managed not to close this new nervous crisis will be the tone and approach of the interventions of the deputies of United We Can. The head of Spanish diplomacy already spoke last Friday with the Foreign Affairs spokespersons of the parliamentary groups to inform them.

However, although the tension between the PSOE and United We Can has decreased, in the purple formation they consider that the socialists have tried take advantage of this situation before the US, recalling its commitment to NATO. According to some sources they have shown the “peacock feathers”, thinking that this movement would favor them on the international scene.

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Biden forgets Sánchez

With that intention, they maintain, Moncloa has made public this weekend the contacts that Sánchez has had with other leaders and has distributed pictures of him in his office at the time he was talking on the phone. But these attempts to obtain revenue from the world situation, the same sources continue, have come to “nothing” after it emerged on Monday afternoon that thethe American president, Joe Biden, will have a round of calls this Tuesday with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Council Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, President Pole Andrzej Duda and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who does not include Pedro Sánchez. With the exception of Biden, the head of the Spanish Executive has spoken in recent hours with all these interlocutors.

Waiting to find out how the tension with Russia will progress, which has half the world on edge, with USA mobilizing 8,500 soldiers in a pre-alert situation, the partners have managed, for now, to redirect their differences. Yesterday from United We Can it was ensured that the PSOE has “rectified and changed the tone” in the Ukraine crisis, going from a speech of mobilizing fighters and ships to now speak of “de-escalation” and “dialogue”, a position in accordance with the “country of no to war”. The PSOE, for its part, is still aware of NATO and the EU but nothing indicates that it wants to take steps further.


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