Throughout his entire political career, Pedro Sánchez has always committed to transforming crises into opportunities. Now also, following the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
As acting president of the Council of the EU, the Spanish president proposed on Tuesday to his European counterparts, meeting urgently by video conference to assess the situation in the Middle East, to use the platform of the Union for the Mediterranean ( UfM), which is holding its next summit in Barcelona on November 27, as “a good opportunity to take advantage of” to reactivate dialogue in the region. In this forum, heir to the Barcelona process of 1995, “both Israel and Palestine sit at the table under equal conditions”, remarked Sánchez.
And after concluding the diplomatic incident with Israel, due to the accusations of the embassy of Tel-Aviv in Madrid for the alleged alignment of the ministers of Unides Podemos with the terrorism of Hamas, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, also highlighted on Tuesday the opportunity that next month’s meetings in Barcelona of the EU/Southern Neighborhood summit and of the UfM can represent, to promote this dialogue in the search for peace, security and stability in the region. “In view of the events in the Middle East, they acquire even more relevance”, he stressed.
Although caution and prudence are imposed on the Spanish Government, waiting to see how the conflict between Israel and Hamas and the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip evolves these days, and in the coming weeks. The scenario is uncertain and very volatile, they acknowledge, but Sánchez’s commitment to promoting dialogue in the region, taking advantage of the Barcelona summit, is firm.
During his intervention yesterday at the summit in Cairo, called by the Egyptian president, Abdul Fattah al-Sissi, Sánchez did not expressly allude to the upcoming meeting of the UPM in Barcelona, ??in front of the twenty international leaders gathered. But he did refer to the Madrid conference of 1991, which was the precursor to the Oslo agreements of 1993 to which he also alluded. Then came the Euro-Mediterranean summit of 1995 – which brought together in Barcelona the then Israeli foreign minister, Ehud Barak, and the historic president of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat -, whose process was, at the same time, the germ, already in 2008, of the Union for the Mediterranean. “The international community has shown in the past that if there is political will, there is a future. We must take advantage of all opportunities to promote dialogue and peace”, defended Sánchez in Cairo yesterday.
From the headquarters of the UfM secretariat in Barcelona, ??it is now also opting for prudence and points out that until a week before the appointment scheduled for November 27, it will be difficult to know the countries that will attend, in the context of the evolution of the conflict. But the logistics were already set in motion for an appointment that, although it is held annually and to which the 43 foreign ministers of the represented countries are invited, is now called in an extremely complex scenario. As indicated, aside from the agenda that was being worked on before the attacks by Hamas in Israel on October 7, the agenda is open to introducing any political issue if the co-presidency of the UfM, and the secretariat of this body. A co-presidency made up of the EU’s External Action Service, headed by Josep Borrell, and Jordan. So this is the approach.
At the meeting, and in addition to the decision taken by the co-presidency and the secretariat on the agenda, all the ministers – or ministerial representatives – take the floor, so each country can introduce any matter referred to the agenda to the conflict in the Middle East. The UfM is made up of the EU member states and the North African and Middle Eastern states of the Mediterranean area.
In the ministerial meetings that have been held in recent years, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Palestine has participated assiduously, and with Israeli participation at various levels. The difficulties in the dialogue in this forum were reflected during the first years (2008), when some Arab countries opposed the assistance of the then Israeli minister, Avdigor Liebermann, because of his political positions. But this period was over.
Now the scenario is more complex and according to the analysis of the director of the European Mediterranean Institute (IEMed), Senen Florensa, the UfM must try to send a political message. If not, there is a risk of a “total deadlock” in what Euro-Mediterranean collaboration means.
