Baerbock sets the climate crisis as the "great threat" to the planet for the next ten years

Spain defends the need to combine a "forceful" response to Russian aggression with environmental commitments

MADRID, 28 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Annalena Baerbock, has ventured this Tuesday from Madrid, on the occasion of the NATO summit, that the "great threat" to the planet in the next ten years is the climate crisis, because "as humans ", issues with Russia or China can be managed "somehow".

"When we talk about the climate crisis, that is already much more difficult," said Baerbock, who gave as an example the attempts that are being carried out at the moment by governments and organizations to reduce global warming by three or four degrees. .

In this sense, he has indicated that the efforts go further, since there is also "mitigation" and "adaptation" to the losses that are coming. "There are regions that we cannot save, there are islands that we cannot save", he has predicted.

For her part, the Canadian Defense Minister, Anita Anand, has advocated interrelating each of the crises that the international community is facing. "It's important not to isolate different types of risk," she has said.

"We need to see the risks in an interrelated way, we cannot separate the military, the climate, the food. We have to have a range of risks. When we are thinking about a crisis we have to do it under the same umbrella", defended the Canadian minister .

Both have participated this Tuesday together with the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of Spain, Ángeles Moreno Bau, in a round table prior to the opening day of the NATO summit in Madrid, which will take place this week.

For Moreno Bau, "the real threat" is underdevelopment, related to geopolitical and energy challenges, migrations, or forced displacement due to terrorist attacks.

Another of the "threats" that has been discussed is what Russia supposedly poses to world peace. In this sense, Baerbock has also stressed that the Allies have no alternative but to continue supporting and supplying weapons to Ukraine while the invasion initiated by President Vladimir Putin continues.

"Beyond this summit, we must continue working with Ukraine. The war could end tomorrow if Putin makes the decision to stop bombing, it depends on him, meanwhile we will have to continue helping Ukraine by sending weapons, otherwise this tragedy will continue to increase" , said the German minister.

In turn, he has warned that Putin is not only trying to make the rest of the crises that threaten world security, such as climate and food, be forgotten, but that he has also managed to "successfully" impose his narrative.

"We have not been successful in combating this false news in all countries," acknowledged the German minister, who has put on the table the risks of hybrid warfare in which, she said, Moscow knows how to move very well.

Given the suspicions that the intervention of the Allies in this war arouses outside the borders of NATO, Baerbock has defended that this violation of international law committed by Russia cannot be tolerated. "If we accept that a country breaks all the rules that we defend, this would be a great loss for the UN.

"We are waging a fight between those who believe in the rule of law and in the power of international law against those who do not believe in it (...). The message has to be that this affects us all, we are all neighbors, not we can accept that the biggest and strongest can simply invade the neighbor and get away with it (...). We have to be honest and not look the other way when international law is flagrantly violated, "he argued.

For her part, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Spain, Ángeles Moreno Bau, has emphasized the need to combine a "forceful" response to the Russian aggression in Ukraine, but at the same time to have a "clear" roadmap for the transition energetic.

"We are facing a war that has terrible consequences for our environment, not only because of the ravages of weapons or fires, but also because of the consequences of high energy prices," he pointed out.

Thus, he pointed out that the "forceful" response to Russian aggression cannot ignore the commitment to the environment, as well as to "new generations and the survival of the species and the planet."

"We have to step on the accelerator of the energy transition and this war gives us an opportunity to recognize that we have to make the transition to a greener and more ecological form of energy", he valued.