Until the entrance of Spain and Portugal In the European Union in 1986, Latin America did not arouse the slightest interest in Brussels, except for the aspects of development aid. After the first decades in which Spain was a real bridge between Europe and the South American continent, this dynamic ended with the arrival to power in Madrid of José Luis Rodriguez ZapateroThe change of government ends a period of extraordinary influence in Brussels during the mandates of the socialist Felipe González and the Popular Party. Jose Maria Aznar. To smooth out relations, at the end of 2011, the CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) but in the absence of any momentum from Spain, it is currently practically in a coma.
“Spain continues to be the country of reference on Latin American issues, if only because the other countries – with the exception of Portugal – have no idea what is happening there,” says the diplomat and now popular MEP Nicolás Pascual, who has held several positions in Brussels, including ambassador to the Political Security Committee, which is the body where member countries discuss common positions on foreign policy. “The problem,” he adds, “is that the last governmentsmore precisely since the time of Rodriguez Zapatero, They left this question aside“.
In general, the interest European governments for Ibero-America is very rareThis week, an inter-parliamentary meeting was held in Budapest under the Hungarian presidency and no one even mentioned the issue of Venezuela, which can be considered topical, while all the interest was focused on the Ukrainian war.
However, the influence of Spain, at a time when it was very active, brought a tremendous boost to democracy in almost all countries and a significant increase in economic relations. The expression of this Spanish influence in Brussels was materialized by the periodic organization (every two years) of Meetings between European and Latin American leaderswhich when they have taken place in Europe, have always taken place in Brussels or Madrid, except once in Vienna. As the last time, last year, it coincided with the Spanish presidency. However, at present Spain has more problems than any other country in the region, whether with Mexico or Argentina, while in many countries democracy, which has been the main objective of EU foreign policy, is more threatened than ten years ago.
We could probably identify the moment when Spain ceased to be the compass in Ibero-American matters when Zapatero has decided to stop supporting the so-called “common position” on Cubawhich were a series of rules designed by José María Aznar to confront the Castro dictatorship, while supporting peaceful dissidents. Aznar had managed to gain a lot of support in the Eastern European countries that had recently joined the EU, who knew perfectly well the characteristics of a communist dictatorship because they had experienced it first-hand and it was these countries that tried to keep it in place in the face of colossal pressure from the Spanish government of the time, determined to dismantle the “common position”. In the councils of foreign ministers, we began to see representatives of countries such as the Czech Republic or Sweden defending the policy that Spain had unilaterally abandoned.
Moved north
In recent statements to Agenda Pública, the diplomat and former director of the CNI, Jorge Dezcallardeplored precisely this loss of positions on the part of Spain. “It pains me to see – he said – that Spain was more present in Brussels at the time of Felipe González, even under that of José María Aznar, than it is today. It is true that the centre of power in the EU has moved north following the Ukrainian crisis. At the moment, there are countries like Poland or the Netherlands that have more weight in Brussels than we do, because we are looking at each other in other wars. Dezcallar even says that the other countries “hope that Spain, which is the fourth largest economy in the eurozone, will put projects on the table instead of always following what the others are doing.” “They are asking us for more visibility.”
However, this role played by the current Spanish government does not always go in the same direction as others expect. At the last summit with CELAC, it was very striking that Sánchez himself The protocol was forced to greet Delcy Rodriguez with more effusionwho was to be allowed to enter European territory despite the fact that a sanction prevented him from doing so. Not all those present appreciated this deference, which caused a lively controversy in Spain. Sánchez was also very reluctant to recognize in his time Juan Guaido as interim president, despite several countries requesting it, and has promoted a policy of conciliation with the Maduro dictatorship, thinking he was serious when he promised free elections this year.
That decline of Spanish influence This happened despite the fact that, in this legislature, the High Representative for Foreign Policy was appointed by Sánchez himself. Joseph Borrell He has done countless favors for the government of Pedro Sánchez in all the scenarios in which they were posed, but they were of little use in Brussels because, when it was not for reasons of internal politics of the coalition government, they were issues that bothered other countries. This lever will disappear since Borrell is already about to leave and in two months he will be replaced by the former Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallaswhich is much more radical in political definitions and comes from a country that experienced communism.
The current debate on Venezuela, which has shifted from Spanish domestic politics to European politics, once again highlights the decline of Spain’s influence. The vote in the European Parliament will take place on Thursday. The government’s attitude has spread to the PSOE and its deputies will have to try don’t stay isolated in a discussion that will probably end with the approval of a resolution that urges the EU and national governments to recognize Edmundo González as the winner of the July 28 elections, contrary to what the government of Pedro Sánchez insists on maintaining. If this resolution is approved, as seems very likely, the issue will remain in the European debate.
