The Government picks up speed before its great international event of the legislature: the NATO summit. Two of the representatives of the Executive at the meeting of the Alliance in Madrid appeared this Wednesday before the media in La Moncloa to provide the main lines of the imminent conference and point out that this summit is the most important since the fall of the “curtain of steel”.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, defend the strategic role of Spain and the Executive’s commitment to threats from the southern flank, including the arrival of undocumented immigrants that may affect the operation of the member countries.
During the appearance, the ministers highlighted the “relevant role of Spain’s committed partner” that the Alliance has taken into account to make Spain the host.
The Defense Minister explained the measures that her Ministry will carry out so that Madrid’s airspace is shielded during the summit.
The flights of the attendees – up to 5,000 guests are expected at the summit – will land mainly in Torrejón and some in Barajas. Likewise, there will be restrictions in the airspace of Madrid Defense has designed a special device in which the presence of fighter jets in the “hot” zone will be reinforced. It will be directed from the Aerospace Operational Command. During all the hours of the pre-summit, summit and post-summit, the entire Madrid space will be covered and armored.
NATO Awacs aircraft will participate to control communications. “The fighters and helicopters will be prepared for any alert,” added the minister. In addition, anti-drone defense systems “with response mechanisms” will be activated. Likewise, Defense will deploy an anti-aircraft artillery defense unit.
As for the possibility that any of the documents agreed upon during the summit could include a wink towards the security of Ceuta and Melilla, Minister Albares assured: “Ceuta and Melilla do not need any wink. Every centimeter of the territories of the allies is perfectly guaranteed. There is no doubt about that. There are statements to this effect by the Secretary General himself. It is an obvious concept of NATO. However, he added that at next week’s summit “it will be demonstrated again” .
Albares also announced that the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, will participate in the summit by videoconference, practically ruling out the president’s physical attendance at the Madrid meeting.
For his part, Robles demanded that the PP be a “state party” and distance itself from criticizing the government within the framework of the summit. “Spain does not design the NATO summit, NATO itself designs it. We are the hosts.” “The PP knows perfectly well that what refers to security are State policies. The PP must leave aside partisan considerations and must make State policies. This summit is a State success. I call on the PP to act with sense of State,” he asked.
Both Robles and Albares, faced with criticism from the Podemos members of the government, recalled that the only ones who attend NATO summits are presidents and heads of state, foreign ministers and defense ministers, making it clear that Podemos ministers they had never attended a summit, “so they can’t stop going where they couldn’t go.”
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