Deputy Deputy Secretary of NATO says that the alliance already protects Ceuta and Melilla: activating the clause is a political decision

He believes that it can be taken for granted that Sweden and Finland will join the Alliance

MADRID, 27 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Deputy Deputy Secretary General for NATO Public Diplomacy, Carmen Romero, assured this Monday that the Atlantic Alliance protects all its members and that Ceuta and Melilla are part of Spain. Thus, she has pointed out that invoking the collective security clause of the Washington Treaty so that countries respond to a threat is a political decision.

"In the case in which a country requests the invocation of this collective security clause, it will be a political decision", explained Carmen Romero in an interview on Cadena Cope, collected by Europa Press, when asked about whether the new strategic security concept could make it clearer that Ceuta and Melilla are protected by NATO.

The deputy deputy secretary has insisted that invoking that clause of article five of the Washington Treaty in the face of an attack by a member country is a political decision and that it will be all the allied countries that decide what to do and how to face the threat . "NATO protects all states," she has emphasized.

In relation to whether NATO would be interested in looking at the southern flank, Carmen Romero assured that "Spain is going to get a lot out of this summit" and that threats from the south are going to be a priority. "I do not remember in the years that I have been in NATO a session at the level of heads of state and government that is fully dedicated to threats from the south. That is what is going to happen on Thursday," she said.

He has slipped, in this sense, that they will discuss, among other issues, the threats from the Middle East, North Africa, including the food crisis caused by Russia's war against Ukraine.

Likewise, he has indicated that they are going to address the response to the growing influence of Russia and China in the southern neighborhood, which is also important. Therefore, the south is going to be very present at the Madrid summit, he assured: "I would say almost unprecedented."

Regarding the entry of Sweden and Finland into this Alliance, Carmen Romero stated that she thinks that it can be taken for granted that these Scandinavian countries are going to join NATO and that it is a historic decision that the two countries have asked to join the Alliance "because they consider the security umbrella provided by NATO to be very important".

Thus, it has highlighted that NATO continues to be an attractive organization towards sovereign countries and that the decision will be made by consensus. He has pointed out that if a country, in this case Turkey, has a concern about the accession of these countries, the members will take it into account.

"In the end, when we talk about our shared security, we always end up agreeing," he asserted, while slipping that Turkey is in talks with Finland and Sweden and that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is using his "good offices" to negotiate with the three parties.

Romero has assured that they do not have the date on which Turkey is going to say yes, although he has hoped that an agreement can be reached at the Summit in Madrid and accession negotiations can begin.

In addition, he pointed out that they are two countries that are practically "fully integrated" into the Alliance because they have been working "very closely with them" for many years.