The Spanish-German summit held this Wednesday in A Coruña leaves for another occasion the possibility of Spain supporting a joint air defense system at European level, which Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz is trying to promote. The matter planned the meeting, after on Tuesday the German ambassador to Spain, María Margarete Gosse, assured in Ser that Scholz could take advantage of the appointment to ask for Pedro Sánchez’s support for the project, which has been presented to officials from various countries, including Spain.
The President of the Government did not want this Wednesday to get out of a script designed to value a meeting, which both countries consider very relevant. With the participation of 15 ministers (eight Spanish and seven Germans), a summit of these characteristics had not been held since 2013. It is taking place now, just when, according to government sources, the relationships go through a “fantastic” moment with two social democratic governments at the head. Scholz himself described them as “excellent”, at the joint press conference with the head of the Spanish Executive, in which he also highlighted that Spain is “one of the closest partners in the EU and most reliable of NATO”.
But this harmony does not include, for the moment, cooperation between the two countries to promote a purely European anti-missile shield, which completes the military structure of NATO. The two leaders confirmed that this issue was not discussed at the meeting in A Coruña. Although Sánchez left the Spanish position up in the air when it was raised in the future in a more solid way. “When it is the subject of debate we will study it”he said, without seeming to weigh the reticence of his government partners, United We Can, who maintain a totally anti-militarist position and have shouted these days to the heavens for the increase in military spending.
german invitation
At the end of August, in a speech in Prague during his official visit to the Czech Republic, Scholz argued that “an air defense system developed jointly in Europe would be more effective and cost-effective than if each of us built our own systems.” “, he announced, “that future air defense so that our European neighbors can participate if they so wish.”
NATO is currently the EU’s protection mechanism, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine has opened up the debate on greater European integration in defense. In this new context, Scholz’s proposal has been produced, which would be complementary to the defensive system of the Atlantic Alliance but who wants to have one Greater independence from the US on safety matter. NATO’s anti-missile shield has strategic points scattered throughout Europe. In Poland, Romania or Germany itself, which, together with the four destroyers at the Rota base (Cádiz), are capable of detecting and destroying an enemy missile.
The war in Ukraine has led to the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO and also to the fact that a country like Germany, with a long pacifist tradition, barely a month after the Russian invasion, reversed its traditional pacifist position and announced the creation of a fund of 100,000 million euros to buy weapons and equipment for its army. That decision includes an anti-missile shield of its own.
“We can cooperate”
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Chancellor Scholz explained it in his appearance with Sánchez. “It is a measure that has to do with German defense policy, we are going to do it for Germany.” The reason, he pointed out, is that they see his neighborhood as “threatened.” That is why they want to promote anti-aircraft defense through “four layers” of protection. Something that, in his opinion, also “can benefit our direct neighbors“. “We can cooperate,” he said, although he admitted that “It is a challenge of many years”.
The idea is there. It is true that it has not been officially formulated and that the project is still very embryonic, but it is the defense policy that Germany intends to promote. Sánchez avoided speaking out, precisely because it is at a very early stage, but it is one of those capital issues, which can spend months dormant and always end up exploding in the end. For now, the only step between the two countries is to intensify collaboration in matters of security and defense. “Improve coordination in planning and capacity development in order to develop a coherent European defense landscape,” says the action plan signed at the summit.