BRUSSELS: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the wars in Ukraine and Iran had violated international law, calling on Europe to respond to the challenges facing the continent with ambition while remaining faithful to its principles and values.
“Spain comes with three objectives: put people at the centre, be coherent with principles and values, and be ambitious to answer the challenges Europe faces,” Sánchez said ahead of the European Council summit in Brussels.
The Global Envoy’s Rohan Dua was present at EU Council’s two-day Oct 15-16 summit.
On Ukraine, Sánchez said Russian President Vladimir Putin was threatening both Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the wider European security architecture.
“Putin is putting the territorial integrity in Ukraine and the security architecture in the EU,” he said.
Turning to Iran, Sánchez described the conflict in stark terms.
“In Iran, there is an illegal, unjustified war that is costing thousands of millions of euros to the EU, similar to the cost of CAP yearly,” he said, comparing the economic cost of the conflict to the European Union’s annual spending on the Common Agricultural Policy.
The Spanish prime minister’s remarks placed the consequences of the two wars at the centre of his call for a more ambitious European response to international challenges.
Migration: responsibility, solidarity and human rights
Sánchez also called for European migration policy to be grounded in responsibility, solidarity and respect for human rights.
He called for a “response grounded on responsibility, solidarity and adherence to human rights”.
The Spanish leader welcomed the draft European Council conclusions on Ceuta and Melilla, Spain’s North African territories, and recognised the commitment of EU institutions to addressing the migration crisis.
He said he “welcomes the draft conclusions on Ceuta and Melilla” and “recognizes the commitment as well from the Union’s institutions in solving the migration crisis”.
Sánchez’s remarks put migration alongside the wars in Ukraine and Iran as a key challenge requiring a coordinated European response.
Funding Europe’s response
The Spanish prime minister also argued that Europe needed sufficient financial resources to meet its international responsibilities, including managing migration and strengthening cooperation with countries outside the bloc.
Spain opposes proposed cuts to development and cooperation funding for Latin America and Africa.
Sánchez said the EU’s next long-term budget needed to be ambitious enough to address global challenges, including migration, investment in border control and cooperation with countries of origin.
For Madrid, the issues of international security, migration and development cooperation are linked to the broader question of how Europe allocates its resources and upholds its stated principles.
Sánchez’s three objectives — putting people first, remaining coherent with European values and responding ambitiously to the challenges facing the continent — framed his position on the wars and migration.
