General López del Pozo, "without a doubt" of the protection of Ceuta and Melilla by NATO

He underlines the importance of the 360-degree vision: "We are supportive in the east and we hope that they are with us"

MADRID, 26 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The General Director of Defense Policy, Lieutenant General Fernando López del Pozo, has "no doubts" that Ceuta and Melilla would have the collective protection of NATO in the event of suffering any type of attack, despite being outside the geographical scope which is formally contemplated in the Washington Treaty.

"I have it very clear, I think there is not the slightest doubt," he settles in an interview with Europa Press regarding the open debate on the status of the two autonomous cities and their eventual protection by the allies.

The Treaty of the Alliance maintains that "an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America should be considered as an attack against all of them" and, consequently, they would come to the defense of the country attacked.

Next, Article 6 clarifies where said attack must take place so that the collective defense can be activated and establishes that it must take place "in the territory of one of the parties in Europe or North America, in the Algerian departments of France, in the territory of Turkey or on the islands under the jurisdiction of any of the parties in the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer".

Despite not being in European territory or being islands, General López del Pozo believes that "there is no doubt" that Ceuta and Melilla would have the protection of NATO as part of Spain. "Doctors have the Church, but I have it very clear", he insists on a debate that, in any case, he believes is good because it highlights the need for security and defense.

On the eve of the NATO Summit in Madrid next Wednesday and Thursday, the general, adviser to the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, stresses that the Alliance's strength is precisely "solidarity, cohesion and knowing They're going to defend you."

This purpose is the one that Spain always pursues, he assures, and that is what it also seeks when it advocates what it has described as a 360-degree vision. As he explains, this means that all allies are clear that threats affect everyone, come "from any geographical direction and from any domain."

"We are clearly in solidarity with the countries of the East and we hope that at a certain moment, if we had a problem in our territory or our interests, the rest of the countries would also be in solidarity with us," he explains as an example.

In his opinion, no NATO country doubts the importance of containing the threats that may come from the south, where Russia already has a strong presence in places like the Central African Republic or Mali and there is growing instability in the Sahel area. "If these countries are not helped to control their territory, it will get worse," he warns.

In any case, this aid will not come in the form of NATO bases on African territory, as he clarifies, but rather the Alliance has its strength in "exporting security". He is also committed to increasing his 'partnerships' with democratic countries that are not part of NATO but share his postulates, such as Mauritania.

Currently, the greatest focus of concern is in Ukraine and the threat from Russia on the eastern border of the Alliance, where the general recalls that Spain has significantly increased its troops since the beginning of this year. This week the latest reinforcements have arrived in Latvia, a hundred more soldiers (in addition to the 500 who were already in the country) along with a battery of anti-aircraft missiles. In addition, Spain in 2022 will monitor the airspace of the eastern NATO border from Bulgaria, Lithuania and Estonia.

General López del Pozo acknowledges that it is "interesting" to study a reinforcement of the Alliance's capabilities in the Baltic countries, as they claim, but leaves the matter in the hands of a "purely military" debate on the need to have troops on the ground or keep them in the countries of origin ready to be deployed. "What is Spain going to do? Spain is going to be compliant with what the military authority proposes," he sums up, emphasizing the country's strategic position to, for example, facilitate military mobility.

The invasion of Ukraine has brought back traditional warfare, but the NATO Summit will also have other types of threats on the table, such as hybrid threats or cyber threats. In the opinion of the General Director of Defense Policy, an aggression through any of these elements could already be enough to invoke article 5 of the Washington Treaty on collective defense.

As he recalls, the only time this formula has been used in the entire history of NATO was after the attack on the Twin Towers, which was not a conventional military aggression from one country to another. Then, there was a debate within the Alliance and it was decided that it did meet the factors to claim the solidarity of all the allies. "Right now an attack from space or a cyber attack, if a series of circumstances occur, can be classified as an attack," he maintains about a debate that he acknowledges is not "easy."

It would also be necessary to "discuss" if the threat occurred in the event of migratory pressure or cuts in the energy supply, since these are actions that are classified within the "grey zone" and it is difficult to prove their attribution. "But the door is perfectly open and it would be possible for it to happen," General López del Pozo believes.