The fourth edition of the La Toja-Atlantic Link Forum has held its inaugural session focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with an exceptional public debate between the Ukrainian and Spanish foreign ministers, Dmitry Kuleba Y Jose Manuel delivery notesrespectively.
moderated by Josep Piquewho was also head of Spanish diplomacy two decades ago, and with the intervention of Joseph Borrellimprovised from the seats of those attending the event, the conversation reached its peak at the end, when Kuleba closed his speeches: “We need more weapons, we will ask Spain for them, we need it to increase its defense spending for this. Only then can we win the war, and then it will also be your victory.“.
The Spanish minister, for his part, has insisted on the “unequivocal commitment” of the Government of Spain to the cause of “freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Ukraine.
Felipe VI presents the ‘La Toja Forum-Atlantic Link’ award to the Ukrainian ambassador, Serhii Pohoreltsev, in the presence of José Manuel Albares and Josep Piqué.
In fact, he has revealed how at the beginning of the invasion he felt misunderstood: “We made decisions that were not in keeping with the usual ones of a Spanish Government, because we understood that the challenge was not to Ukraine, but to global security“, has developed Albares.
“But there were two key factors” with which everything became clearer. The parallelism with the fall of the Second Republic in 1936, “when we Spaniards lost our freedom” in the face of the world’s lack of reaction against the military coup. “And the convinced Europeanism of the citizenry, which was reflected in the suffering of the Ukrainians for having chosen, too, to bet on the European way of life“.
The questions from Piqué, president of the Forum, focused on the definition of the new global security architecture that is at stake during the invasion of Ukraine and after the end of the war. The “violent” change in the geostrategic axis, the global implications of a conflict that, in reality, “does not concern” only the Westand that has crept into the already open dispute between the United States and China for global hegemony.
“We must insist”, Kuleba pointed out, that “although it is logical that, for example, a war in Latin America would make Latin American countries feel more concerned, this war does have global repercussions and supposes a global challenge“, given who the aggressor is – a nuclear power – and that it is an invasion that defies “international law and the Charter of the United Nations”.
In this sense, Albares has added that he has come to “ask” his colleagues from countries that have not publicly condemned the Russian invasion the reasons for their attitude. “They gave me two explanations,” he replied, “that are too politically and economically dependent on Russia and, above all, that we haven’t listened enough to your needs enough to demand a belligerent stance from them now”.
Ukraine in the EU
With different nuances, but with the diplomacy that the position implies, Albares and Kuleba -in addition to Borrell himself- have agreed on the need for Ukraine to “win” the contest and in the two-way commitment between kyiv and Brussels.
Dmitro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, speaks by videoconference from kyiv at the La Toja Forum.
“It’s imperative that Ukraine be admitted to the European Union as soon as possibleas a full member”, defended the Ukrainian minister. “And not only we are willing to make all the reforms that are asked of usbut we are already doing them, even in the midst of war”.
delivery notes, who has suggested an imminent new trip to kyiv -he was there just two weeks before the start of the conflict-, has also reiterated his support for Ukraine’s future entry into the EU. yes, he has highlighted two circumstances: the first, referring to “the challenges that entry poses”, because it is about a country “at war” and, therefore, “the same cannot be demanded of other candidates”.
The second, that “Other countries are also waiting”and they could be upset if Kyiv is prioritized.
With firm but elegant words, Kuleba has tried to refute these allegations by the Spanish minister, trusting that the accession will be “as soon as possible”. Speaking on behalf of the president of him, Volodymyr Zelenskyhas argued that precisely “the European vagueness towards Ukraine in these last 30 years It has been one of the factors that have led to the invasion by Russia”.
Without refuting this argument, Albares stated that “everything has changed since February 24”, the date of the invasion, “and not even the Strategic Compass of the EU nor the Strategic Concept of Madrid, coming out of the NATO summit would be as they are” if Vladimir Putin had not decided to attack Ukraine.
The Spanish minister, finally, has closed his intervention showing himself convinced that “soon, very soon Ukraine will be a free country again within the European family”.
