The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation has responded to the criticisms from the PP and has rejected that there were no contacts with the 'popular' party regarding the Treaty of Friendship with France, which was rejected this Tuesday in the Senate thanks to the absolute majority of the main opposition party. According to the department, Minister José Manuel Albares and his team would have directly approached officials of the PP.
"It is false that the Government has not contacted the PP for the Treaty of Friendship with France," sources from Foreign Affairs have indicated, in response to the accusation made by the party led by Alberto Nuñez Feijóo, which claims that the Executive did not reach out to discuss this bilateral agreement.
According to these sources, Albares called the Foreign Affairs spokespersons of the PP in Congress and in the Senate, Carlos Floriano and José Antonio Monago, and also the diplomatic advisor of Feijóo, Ildefonso Castro, in order to discuss the content of the Treaty.
Furthermore, they pointed out that the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Diego Martínez Belío, also "contacted them," held a meeting with Floriano, and spoke with Castro to delve into the issue.
"Documentation about the Treaty was provided to all of them and all aspects they requested were clarified," the same sources have specified, insisting that it is "false" that information was not provided to them, as claimed by 'popular' sources.
The Senate rejected the Treaty of Friendship with France on Tuesday, asserting the PP's absolute majority, despite the fact that the Constitutional Court validated the text last week and supported the interpretative agreement reached by the two governments regarding the presence of a French minister at a meeting of Spanish ministers.
Article 2.4 of the Treaty, signed in January 2023 during the Barcelona summit, stipulated that a French minister could periodically attend the Spanish Council of Ministers and, reciprocally, that a Spanish minister could participate in a meeting of the French Executive.
In the PP, they believe that this clause violates the Constitution, which is why they already rejected it in Congress in May 2025. To try to overcome this obstacle, both governments agreed in April that participation would not occur in the Council of Ministers as such, but in a meeting held on its margins.
Despite this, the 'popular' maintained their reservations and from the Senate raised a resource before the Constitutional Court, which finally ruled in favor of the text. The 'no' of the Upper Chamber blocks the ratification of the Treaty, which being an international agreement needs the support of both the Congress and the Senate.