The King proposes Spain as a NATO link with Africa and Latin America

Felipe VI defended this Tuesday that Spain be the link between NATO and the countries of Latin America and Africa, both because of its "ideal position" geopolitically, and because of the "widely shared will to serve as a bridge between the Atlantic, Europe and the Mediterranean".

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
28 June 2022 Tuesday 10:54
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The King proposes Spain as a NATO link with Africa and Latin America

Felipe VI defended this Tuesday that Spain be the link between NATO and the countries of Latin America and Africa, both because of its "ideal position" geopolitically, and because of the "widely shared will to serve as a bridge between the Atlantic, Europe and the Mediterranean". In his speech at the NATO Public Forum in Madrid, sponsored by the Elcano Royal Institute on the occasion of the Atlantic Alliance summit, the King warned that "Europe faces the threat of an increasingly unstable neighbourhood", which has located not only in the east, alluding to the challenges arising from the war in Ukraine, but also in the south.

"The war in Ukraine is questioning many of the assumptions and beliefs that have prevailed in Europe and the West for more than three decades", underlined the Head of State, who highlighted, in the current context, the value of NATO as "credible deterrent against any security threat", as well as the "importance of military force".

In this regard, he indicated that there are reasons to trust that the transatlantic relationship is "stronger than ever" and that Europe "has remained united in the face of intolerable Russian aggression." Still, he has warned that "maintaining the rules-based order in Europe" will remain a challenge for the Atlantic community in the coming years and decades, "especially as strategic competitors continue to question its institutional and regulatory fabric."

To do this, it has opted to look beyond the borders of the Euro-Atlantic space, although obtaining support from these countries "is proving to be considerably difficult". "This will be the central challenge for the Atlantic community in the coming years and decades, especially as strategic competitors continue to question the institutional and normative basis" on which the international order is based.

Thus, he thanked the "solidarity of friends" such as Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand, countries that are attending a NATO summit for the first time.

"In this key challenge, Spain must seek to develop a broader understanding of the transatlantic community, which allows us to strengthen our connection with Africa and Latin America", Felipe VI highlighted, an objective for which he is in an "ideal position". geopolitics and by the desire to "serve as a bridge" between the Atlantic, Europe and the Mediterranean.