Strasbourg (France) (EFE).- MEPs from the four main political formations (PSOE, PP, Vox and Sumar) discussed the war in Ukraine, alliances with Latin America, the relationship with Morocco and migratory flows in the organized debate by the EFE Agency on foreign policy issues and on Spain in the European Union (EU), the second of the “EFE Forum 23J” cycle.
Held at the headquarters of the European Parliament in Strasbourg (France) with an eye on the general elections on July 23, the MEPs Nacho Sánchez Amor (PSOE), José Manuel García-Margallo (PP), Jorge Buxadé ( Vox) and Idoia Villanueva (from Podemos and head of the list for Sumar in Navarra).
The four of them exchanged their points of view with hardly any interruptions, all of them leaving these outstanding phrases:
Sanchez Love (PSOE)
“With Pedro Sánchez, Spain has recovered a leadership that it had not had for a long time. I understand that unscrewing Rajoy from the Moncloa sofa and mounting him in the Falcon was a daunting task”.
“The alternative (to Sánchez) is a PP leader who finds it irrelevant to speak English, who slips on foreign policy issues and who would seat Vox ministers on the Council of the European Union.”
“We have to choose whether we want a Spain in the center or a Spain on the sidelines with Poland and Hungary.”
“Here there is an aggressor and a victim (…) Peace preaching must be done in Moscow, not in European capitals, because Ukraine either defends itself or surrenders.”
“The PSOE has carried out an exercise of responsibility (with Morocco), because there was a very deep crisis and it has managed to overcome it by creating a new stage.”
“We continue within the framework of the United Nations to resolve the conflict (in Western Sahara).”
“Sometimes it seems that Latin America is reduced to Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, but there are 30 more countries.”
“We cannot consider Latin America with an ancient paternalistic sense.”
García-Margallo (PP)
“The European project has advanced when there has been an agreement between the two great centrist forces, fundamentally the European PP and the Social Democrats (…), and it has regressed when it has been the extreme right-wing forces that have intervened in the process”.
“The EU must work with the US to defend that liberal international order of 1945, which the extreme left, and especially the extreme right, wants to blow up, leading us to disorder and chaos in the world of the jungle.”
“We are going to coexist with two Ukraines (…) The part that remains on our side is going to enter the European Union, I hope, and it will be necessary to consider whether or not it is prudent for it to enter NATO.”
“In Morocco, this government has achieved a record that no Secretary of State has achieved since Felipe V, which is to anger Morocco, Algeria and the Polisario Front at the same time, all three.”
“Establishing walls is not the formula for getting along with countries that necessarily have to readmit illegal migrants.”
“Today in South America there are only three liberal democracies left: Uruguay, Paraguay and Ecuador.”
“There is a part of the Government (about Podemos) that is with the extreme left movements that have been triumphing in Latin America.”
“None of the democracies of Ibero-America have supported the establishment of sanctions against Ruisa and that should make us think which side they are falling on.”
Buxadé (Vox)
“Sánchez, in this case (from Morocco), has behaved like a true sociopath.”
“That sociopath becomes a weak subject, a subject guilty of the position of Morocco, and makes a unilateral and arbitrary decision, without consulting the Congress of Deputies.”
“What are the rules that should govern our relationship with Morocco? Well, very clear, high walls make good neighbors”.
“The screening of all immigrants who want to enter European territory, or those who request asylum, must be carried out in the countries of transit or origin.”
“When we talk about China’s influence in Latin America, we have to talk about Lula, who receives Xi Jinping and then comes to Europe to tell us what Xi has told him that he has to do with regard to Ukraine.”
“In Brussels, the PP and the PSOE vote exactly the same in 88% of the votes in plenary.”
“The point here is to implement the 2030 Agenda as quickly as possible, impose climate fanaticism and accelerate a permanent process of giving more power to Brussels and less power to the EU Member States.”
“Russia is guilty, but it must also be shown that there are political leaders. Putin starts this war because he sees an EU that has been in the hands of Russia for years ”.
Villanueva (Add)
“We can no longer give false promises to the Ukrainian people saying that they will enter the EU with an invaded country or saying that they will enter NATO but only when the necessary conditions are met.”
“We began by saying as Europeans that we were going to send only defensive material and that later has turned into fighters, missiles and an increase in militarism.”
“From the EU we prop up authoritarian governments that are going against the interests of their people, Morocco is a great example of how authoritarian regimes have become priority partners.”
“You cannot understand the change of position in a conflict like the Sahara, without going through the Spanish Parliament.”
“As it stands on the table today, the EU Migration and Asylum Pact is a victory for xenophobic and racist policies.”
“From Europe we have to have a job on an equal footing with Latin America, ruling out any supremacist gaze.”
“I think any democrat will be happier to support Lula or Petro than Orbán or Bolsonaro.”
“Trade agreements (between the EU and Latin America) have also generated conflicts, have destroyed part of the productive fabric and have favored a certain amount of capital on both sides of the Atlantic.”