MADRID, 7 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has claimed that the Government must have “autonomy” when it comes to defending Spaniards against the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine after the Central Bank European Union (ECB) has questioned his plans for a temporary tax on banks.
“Exceptional times require exceptional measures and there is a margin of maneuver that every government must have and that is what Pedro Sánchez claims, the autonomy of the Government to defend Spaniards against the economic consequences of the crisis,” Albares said in an interview in Antena 3, collected by Europa Press, when asked about the President’s criticism of the ECB Vice President, Luis de Guindos.
The head of diplomacy has stressed that it is a temporary tax, based on the principle of reciprocity. “In the same way that the banks at one point received strong aid from European funds, which in the end all of us Spaniards have helped to support”, now it is “important that they help the Spanish through this tax” .
Albares has stressed that it is not a “whim of the Government” but that it is motivated by the current “exceptional situation” and has argued that other European countries and the EU itself are taking measures. “We cannot allow a man for himself”, insisted the minister, recalling that from the financial crisis of 2008 “we each came out on our own” and “we all were very weak, leaving many people behind”.
However, first with the COVID-19 pandemic and then with the crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, it is getting out “all together and therefore we get out earlier, much faster, in better shape and leaving fewer people behind. “.
Thus, he has claimed that in Europe there is no “government more supportive” than the Spanish. “Whenever it can choose, the Spanish Government chooses to play European, whenever Spain has asked for our help, for example in migratory matters, it always responds present and shows solidarity”.
Regarding the question of who will be the PSOE’s candidate for mayor of Madrid, Albares has maintained that there are “multiple people” who could occupy the position and has been “sure that the best will be chosen for a city ??such as the capital, which needs progressive measures”.
In another order of things, the minister has predicted that “the winter is going to be very hard” in Ukraine in view of the latest steps taken by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and has reiterated that the Government, like its partners Europeans, makes every effort so that “peace returns as soon as possible”. But he has lamented, “we are going towards more useless suffering of many defenseless civilians”.
Albares has not wanted to enter into assessing the possible results of the ‘Midterm’ elections that are held this Tuesday in the United States, beyond acknowledging that as a general rule there is usually “a correction” regarding the White House tenant and expressing respect for the decision that the Americans make.
However, he has highlighted the “extraordinary harmony” that currently exists between the Joe Biden Administration and the Spanish Government and has stressed that regardless of the outcome of these elections, the US president “continues to have an important role and important powers in foreign policy”.
Therefore, “the course that Biden has set for multilateralism, of working with the Europeans on global issues, that will surely not change”, he assessed, after acknowledging that former President Donald Trump is already behaving like a candidate facing the 2024 elections, for which “there is still a lot of time”.
