From the Quintos de Mora estate, to La Moncloa and the Teatro Real.

Pedro Sánchez and Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, today completed their third day of bilateral work in preparation for the summit that the Alliance is holding at the end of June in Madrid.

The appointment this Monday was to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Spain's entry into NATO, an act presided over by the King.

The President of the Government has put on the table that remaining in this organization "is essential to guarantee what we are, our model of life, stability and the future of the next generations".

A few words pronounced before an audience with more than 300 guests, before the presidents of Congress, the Senate, the Judiciary, former presidents Felipe González, José María Aznar and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (Mariano Rajoy excused his presence), the leader of the opposition, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and up to eight ministers, all from the socialist sector.

Because no representative of United We Can have attended the event, not even Vice President Yolanda Díaz.

The purples maintain a critical position regarding NATO, its existence and its actions and, in fact, the shipment of weapons to Ukraine caused a division within the coalition.

Sánchez turns a deaf ear to the discomfort of his government partner and has made a profuse defense of the need not only to belong to NATO, but to deepen the bond, even more so after the war in Ukraine.

"Unity and cohesion among the allies is the best deterrence weapon. Faced with the enemies of open societies such as those that the allies defend," said Sánchez, alluding to Putin, "we must be right in our decisions and in defining of our most immediate future".

For La Moncloa it is key to "preserve the unity of all of us who believe in democracy" and that unity is seen as key to "strengthen security. Many people [with the war in Ukraine] have understood that our security is not guaranteed indefinitely , that adversity can settle in our societies and corrupt everything. The coordinated and daily effort of the allies is essential".

In this framework of strengthening ties, Sánchez has ratified before the Secretary General of NATO and the members of the Atlantic Council, his commitment to increase the Government's investment in Defense, something that his partner Podemos does not share either.

The head of the Executive has pointed out that the only way to reinforce the deterrence capacity, the military capacities, is "by means of an increase in investment in Defense".

The President of the Government has sent a clear message to those who criticize this position of allocating more public resources to military spending: "We have to convey to society that we must make this effort because the cost of standing idly by while putting freedom and our model of peaceful and democratic coexistence are in check".

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  • NATO

  • Ministry of Defence

  • Ukraine

  • United We Can

  • Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero

  • Can

  • Mariano Rajoy

  • Alberto Nunez Feijoo

  • Pedro Sanchez

  • Jose Maria Aznar

  • Philip Gonzalez

  • Senate