González Laya is committed to increasing defense spending and "being prepared to defend peace"

He assures that "Putin has lost the war but Ukraine has not yet won it"

BARCELONA, 8 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The former Minister of Foreign Affairs and current Dean of the School of International Affairs of Paris SciencePo (Psia), Arancha González Laya, has opted to increase the budget for security and defense in Spain and the European Union to "be prepared to defend peace " facing the war in Ukraine after the Russian invasion.

In an interview with Europa Press before participating in the first day of 'Knots of Democracy', co-organized by the Ernest Lluch Foundation and the Social Observatory of the 'la Caixa' Foundation, the former minister ruled out entering "how to cook budget", when asked about the increase in the defense item in the General State Budgets (PGE), which has generated criticism from United We Can, who claim that they were not informed.

"Yes, I would say that the European Union is a peace project, but maintaining this peace project today means being prepared to defend that peace and that today means investing more in our collective security, in the ability to defend our territory and our way of life. ", has underlined the former head of Foreign Affairs.

In addition, he stated that in Spain this debate "cannot be dissociated from the great presence of the defense industry in the productive fabric", and added that spending on defense and security means creating jobs, creating competitiveness and investing in technology and it is also a fundamental component of European strategic autonomy, in his words.

On whether the war in Ukraine will be prolonged, González Laya has maintained that Russia presented the conflict as a rapid military operation but in the end it has not been so, and has attributed it to "three miscalculations by Putin": underestimating Ukrainian national sentiment, European unity and the position of third countries such as China, Turkey or India, has materialized.

"The truth is that Putin has lost the war but Ukraine has not yet won it," González Laya stressed, who believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin is responding to this resistance with escalations in the conflict such as the annexation of Ukrainian territories after the holding of referendums in these territories, which the former minister has branded as a mock democracy.

He has also assured that Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons "should concern all" countries, and has highlighted that both the EU and NATO have been very clear in warning Putin about the consequences of taking that path, something he affirms What are most countries doing?

González Laya has disassociated her dismissal as minister from the diplomatic crisis that Spain was going through with Morocco: "My dismissal is as normal as my arrival at the Government in the sense that one serves their country at the will of its president", and has defended the construction of stable relations with countries such as Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Libya or Egypt.

She has ruled out evaluating the change in Spain's position regarding Western Sahara, which materialized with a letter sent by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to the King of Morocco, Mohamed VI, and has stressed that she does not comment on decisions of the Government to the which has belonged by deontological rule and deontological hygiene, he has said verbatim.

Asked if the supply of Algerian gas to Spain would be at risk as a result of this change in position on the Sahara, she replied that the Algerian pronouncements "have always been very clear, that they are serious suppliers, they are a serious country with a serious commitment and long-term", and underlined that Algeria and Spain and their companies are committed to guaranteeing energy security and to working together to innovate in this sector.

As for the Midcat gas pipeline project, the former minister has opted for it to be part of a discussion at the European Union level, of European interconnections, and considers that it encompasses a broader debate on the energy union and the energy transition, which she believes should be "fast, fair and safe".

González Laya has valued the work of the central government and its role in facing situations such as the pandemic, the eruption of the La Palma volcano and the war in Ukraine, and has explained that she is now living day to day without projecting herself in the future, when asked if she sees herself returning to the political front line: "We'll see what the future holds for us", she concluded.