The Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños, has defended this Friday from Brussels that the sending of the frigate 'Cristóbal Colón' to Cyprus responds to the support for a European Union partner and to an operation with other countries of the bloc, which is why, in his opinion, the decision does not require the prior endorsement of the Congress of Deputies, as claimed by the Popular Party.
“It is a European mission formed by European partners in support of a European country, such as Cyprus. And that is the context for which this Spanish frigate is there,” Bolaños stated to the media upon his arrival at the meeting of EU Justice Ministers taking place in Brussels.
The head of the Presidency has recalled that “that frigate was already in the Baltic and was part of a mission (...) where we were working with other fleets from other countries and other frigates and other ships from other European partner countries”, insisting that Spanish participation is part of an operation already underway.
As he explained, the Spanish frigate was integrated into the naval group of the French aircraft carrier 'Charles de Gaulle', with escort, protection and advanced training tasks in the Baltic Sea, and it is within that same naval deployment from which it is now heading towards the Eastern Mediterranean.
Mutual defense
The Treaty on European Union includes in its article 42.7 a mutual defense clause whereby “in case a Member State is the victim of an armed aggression on its territory, the other Member States shall give it aid and assistance by all the means in their power, in accordance with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.” However, this collective defense guarantee is only activated at the express request of the affected State and, for now, Cyprus has not resorted to it.
Asked if, despite said precept of the European Treaties not having been activated, the Executive considers that it should not request authorization from Congress, Bolaños has avoided responding directly to the demand of the PP and has limited himself to remarking that “it is a European mission, which is formed by European partners, by ships and frigates that are European, in support of a European country.”
The PP invokes the National Defense Law
The Popular Party demands from the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, that he submit to a vote in Parliament the deployment of the frigate to Cyprus, announced yesterday by the Executive, and accuses him of having gone from the slogan 'No to war' to that of 'No to Congress', according to party sources, who underline that since 2006 the governments of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Mariano Rajoy requested 26 authorizations for the sending of troops abroad.
For this reason, the PP will demand that Pedro Sánchez appear in Congress to inform the citizenry and that he submit “immediately” to the Lower House the authorization that, they stress, is demanded by the National Defense Law for the sending of the frigate 'Cristóbal Colón' to Cyprus, after the attack against the British base located in that territory. “Thus we will be able to know in parliament what those who support Sánchez think of Sánchez's maneuvers,” maintain the same sources.
Along the same lines, they recall that the warship “most advanced in the Navy” has been sent to a “conflict zone” and that its crew risks suffering attacks in an environment where new military operations have already been launched.
Appearance of Sánchez
Getting ahead of the PP's demand, or in parallel to it, Pedro Sánchez has requested this Friday to voluntarily appear in Congress to give explanations both about Spain's position regarding the attack on Iran by the US and Israel as well as about the sending of the frigate to Cyprus.