Spain’s Foreign Policy and the Mediterranean

CIDOB European Breakfast For Gonzalo de Benito, Spain’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who was the keynote speaker at the CIDOB European Breakfast on 10 December 2012, the strategic horizon for Spain depends on whether the Southern Mediterranean countries can progress towards higher stability and democracy and, thus become prosperous societies. If not, risks for Spain will multiply. According to him, the Spanish Mediterranean policy is a good example of a diplomatic tradition that is followed by all governments, irrespective of their political colors. It is a top foreign policy priority the current Spanish government, not unlike its predecessors, approaches through economic diplomacy, the promotion of human rights and the active concern for the Spanish citizens’ security. 

There are three main items in Spain’s Mediterranean agenda: the Arab Spring and the need to establish a dialogue with the Islamic forces; the Middle East peace process, where Spain’s support for Palestine’s recognition as an observer state to the UN is, de Benito remarked, a demanding support to Palestinian authorities and specially its moderate leaders; and finally, regional integration, a field where Spain values highly the efforts undertaken by the European Investment Bank and the Union for the Mediterranean. De Benito stressed that Spain is currently pushing to increase the EU financial commitment to the region. The Mediterranean being a “fundamental component” of Spain’s foreign policy, Morocco, Argelia and Turkey (with which bilateral summits have been and are being convened) are its three current priorities, according to de Benito. The Palestine question came up again in the ensuing debate. De Benito maintained that a common abstention by European countries would have been counterproductive for Europe on the global stage and would have weakened politically the EU when pushing to re-launch the peace process. Asked about the need for a dialogue with Hamas, de Benito explained that persons close to Hamas attend dialogue forums where Spanish representatives are also present. 

These forums are meant to try to improve communication channels between European countries and Islamist forces. On Western Sahara, de Benito confessed that the current standoff is frustrating for Spain. Would Spain support the recognition of the Arab Saharawi Democratic Republic (ASDR) as an observer state to the UN, following the Palestine model? De Benito answered that the two cases were not comparable and that, in the case of Palestine, Spain is confident that peace negotiations will be resumed –thus implying that a vote on the ASDR would not help solve the problem. Bilateral relations with Morocco are simply excellent, de Benito noted, as can be seen in today’s capacity to overcome pitfalls such as the arrival of irregular immigrants to Spanish shores. To him, the quality and the intensity of the current relations with Morocco is definitely one of the greatest satisfactions in the foreign relations of Spain in 2012. On migration, de Benito pointed out that the issue is now perhaps less central than in previous years, due to the declining flows of irregular migrants. Finally, on the controversial Alliance of Civilisations, de Benito made it clear that Spain keeps on supporting it --even though now it cannot afford to cover such an important part of the budget as it did in the past.