Bal urges Robles to send the weapons requested by Ukraine and doubts that the 2% in military spending will be met

He reminds Sánchez that his partners are antimilitarists, they want to repeal the Army and leave NATO

MADRID, 26 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The deputy secretary general of Ciudadanos (Cs), Edmundo Bal, has urged the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, this Friday to undertake the shipment of weapons to Ukraine after "discovering" the breach as a result of complaints from the ambassador of this country in Spain. In addition, he has questioned whether the Government can achieve the objective of increasing its defense spending to 2% of GDP due to the "anti-militarist" pressure that, in his opinion, is exerted by Podemos and the legislature's partners.

In statements to Europa Press, Bal thanked the explanations offered by Robles, although clarifying that "they do not seem sufficient to him". Defense reacted hours after the criticism of the Ukrainian ambassador by announcing the shipment of field artillery, fuel, armored vehicles (TOA M-113), point defense missile systems, as well as basic training for the Ukrainian forces in Spain and clothing and winter equipment.

Bal has recalled the criticism that the business manager of the Ukrainian Embassy in Spain, Dmytro Matiuschenko, personally conveyed to him months ago. "After a few months, it has been discovered that Spain was not fulfilling its international obligations to support the Ukrainian people," he commented.

The 'number two' of Cs has insisted that "his face falls with shame as a Spaniard" because the ambassador denounced that we are "the worst country in Europe in sending weapons to Ukraine." And he also found it "unfortunate" that the minister said that the Spanish Leopard model battle tanks were in a sorry state. "She is responsible for our weapons not being in that unfortunate state," he maintained.

As he explained, on his day he spoke with Robles about this issue and she pointed out that it was necessary to be discreet. However, he has warned that in Cs "they are going to be behind" the minister so that Spain complies because "it is about helping the Ukrainian people who are resisting in a heroic way, defending the values ​​that are typical of Europeans against a tyrant, Putin, and because it is about protecting the good name of Spain".

When asked if he considers the shipment announced by Robles to be sufficient, the Cs leader acknowledges that "the one who asks always asks for more than what can be given." "I hope that we live up to what the times demand, our responsibilities and the contributions to NATO", he added, also referring to the explanations requested from the Executive on the role of Spain in the protection of the Eastern European border, in Latvia and Lithuania.

For Bal, "ambition" is lacking because there is not "sufficient courage to establish a complementary defense mechanism within the European Union in relation to NATO, with adequate coordination of military commands and the purchase of material, with an industrial policy in terms of defence, the necessary modernization of the Armed Forces or with the multi-annual financing law for the Armed Forces.

In his opinion, this multiannual financing law would be the ideal way to prevent military spending from having to be negotiated every year within the contingency fund of the General State Budget, given that the Government's partners are "anti-militarists, they want abolish the Spanish Army, leave NATO and oppose joint defense in the European Union".

Bal has recalled the silence of the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, on the new shipment of weapons to Ukraine that United We Can question, as well as the support for the anti-NATO demonstrations of the former Secretary of State for the 2030 Agenda and leader of the PCE , Enrique Santiago, or the declarations of charges of the Government partner calling the Atlantic Alliance a "criminal organization", considers for them "the market through which the US sells weapons".

"It makes us suspect or doubt that the Government is going to fulfill its commitments," continued Bal, alluding to what he considers most important: complying with the increase in military investment to 2% of GDP. "For that we need the General State Budgets, which must begin to be processed now, within a month. Is the Government going to have the support of its partners for the increase in this item of defense spending? "he wondered.

To meet this objective, the leader of Cs has urged that the aforementioned multi-year financing law be approved, which will provide "stability" in medium and long-term investments, preventing the Armed Forces "year after year from seeing their financing endangered with a war at the gates of Europe".

"Unfortunately, with the partners that this government has, ERC, Bildu or Podemos, we suspect that in the end Pedro Sánchez, which is no longer going to surprise anyone, will not keep his word, and where he said he was going to increase the budget of Defense at 2% will not fulfill its promise," he added.