The Spanish frigate Blas de Lezo has just left its port in Galicia. Together with another escort ship, she set out to take part in the NATO mission in the Black Sea. In addition, Spain wants to transfer at least four Eurofighters to Bulgaria in February. Although it will be some time before the first Spanish soldiers get anywhere near Ukraine, the escalating conflict with Russia in Madrid threatens to escalate into a coalition crisis. In a joint appeal, the left-wing alternative Unidas Podemos Party (UP) and seven other left-wing parties expressed their "total rejection" of Spanish participation in the NATO mission. The UP is the junior partner in the minority government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez;the other parties had repeatedly supported his government in voting.

Hans Christian Roessler

Political correspondent for the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb based in Madrid.

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Podemos founder Pablo Iglesias, who resigned from the party leadership last year, said the EU had "not the slightest interest" in a military confrontation on European soil with a country that possessed nuclear weapons.

The Secretary of Defense treats the citizens like "fools".

They understand that NATO is "a military alliance designed to protect the interests of the United States."

The slogan “No to war” was once again circulating on social networks close to the left, as was the case recently during the American-led invasion of Iraq.

At the time, Spain was part of the “coalition of the willing”.

"Who is in charge in your government?"

Spanish Foreign Minister Albares attempted to calm things down with a short-term speech before Parliament on Tuesday. The right-wing opposition had already accused Sánchez's weakness of the Socialists. PP leader Pablo Casado cynically asked, "Who is in charge in your government?" At the same time, the conservative opposition leader offered the head of government his support for the NATO mission. Sánchez had intensified his contacts with the alliance partners in the past few days and confessed to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the "security of Europe". "We support Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and trust that diplomacy and dialogue will be the way to de-escalate this crisis," he stressed.For Sánchez and Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, it is important to show reliability, especially towards NATO. Madrid is proud to host the next NATO summit, which will take place at the end of June.

But the very announcement of NATO assistance forced the socialists to fight to keep their own troops together at home.

A few weeks ago, there was a heated argument with Podemos about the labor market reform.

The left-wing minority government is still looking for votes in parliament for the passage of this parade project and cannot afford failures in its own ranks.

Should the Ukraine conflict escalate, Sánchez could find it difficult to agree to an extended mission.

That's why Sánchez' socialists have been practicing crisis diplomacy at home since the weekend.

Defense Minister Margarita Robles pointed to the many peacekeeping missions in which the Spanish military has already participated.

Even before his parliamentary speech, the Foreign Minister issued the following slogan: