If the schism between Europe and the United States as a result of the Iraq war turned the classic French Fries into the fries of freedom, it is not impossible that the climate of confrontation between NATO and Russia is the cause of the sudden name change of one of the star dishes on the menu for journalists and delegations at the NATO summit that ends this Thursday in Madrid, the Russian salad.
Even the international agency Reuters and the Politico Europe portal had echoed with some surprise the presence of the dish with the exotic name on the menu of the meeting, which turned out to be one of the most successful during the first two days of the summit. Today Thursday, without prior notice, the Russian salad has appeared renamed as traditional salad.
Government sources attribute the decision exclusively to Ifema, responsible for catering the meeting. At the dinner offered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Santa Cruz Palace, more experienced in diplomacy, they avoided the problem by baptizing the dish 'Kyiv salad', as stated in the menu designed by chef José Andrés.
The change is limited exclusively to the name of the dish, and not to the price, which remains 8 euros per unit, in line with the premium rates of the press area dining room: 20 euros for a menu of the day, 2.75 euros for a can of mineral water, and 2.90 euros for a relaxing cup of coffee with milk like those that former mayor Ana Botella recommended drinking in the Plaza Mayor.
The culinary offer for the members of the official delegations, who have a specific area located on the floor below the press room, is similar to that of the pens, although in this case they do not have to pay for supplies. Each national delegation, made up of an average of 30 people (50 in the case of Spain, the United States and Turkey) has its own work room but where there was more atmosphere yesterday, as this newspaper could verify, was in the central space. A swarm of civil servants, politicians and technicians did the background work of the summit while the leaders remained gathered in the spectacular hall set up for the meetings of the Atlantic Council.
The enormous deployment of security, in which the Interior has worked for months, has been noted inside and outside the IFEMA. The shuttle buses to the pavilions of the summit, which have been part of a perfect organization, were received with the presence of a tank of the National Police, guarded by burly riot police. In some cases, police dogs inspected journalists' personal belongings before boarding the bus.
Another of the surprises of the summit, behind closed doors, is the name chosen for one of the rooms set up for bilateral meetings between delegations: the Milagros room. Although it could well have been the room where the final meeting between the leaders of Turkey, Sweden and Finland was held on Tuesday, in the presence of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, to unblock the accession of the Nordic countries, the miracle with which the summit started, government sources explained that it was held elsewhere. The name of the rooms, they explained, depends on the monument or the town that appears in the main photograph that decorates its walls: La Palma, Cudillero...
The last-minute negotiations between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the leaders of Sweden and Finland took longer than expected, so that the Turkish leader did not arrive on time for the gala dinner offered by the King and Queen of Spain at the Royal Palace . To the surprise of the clients and owners of the Amazónico restaurant, located on Jorge Juan street, which has a Turkish businessman among its investors, after nine o'clock at night, President Erdogan appeared at the premises along with a large delegation of diplomats, who finally were installed in a private space of the premises.
The summit comes to an end today and, as is tradition, the delegations will go home with a gift from the country organizing the summit. In this case, the Ministry has given a thousand of the attendees a selection of Spanish food, all winners of the "Food of Spain" awards or with Designation of Origin, such as extra virgin olive oil, tuna in olive oil, olives of table, DOP Pimentón de la Vera and rice of the DOP Calasparra. The gifts for journalists, as is also tradition, are much more modest: a cloth bag with the summit logo, a notebook and a commemorative pen. The Community of Madrid, for its part, offered another bag with an invitation for the press to have a glass of wine with President Isabel Díaz Ayuso, in which there was also a red fan.
The war in Ukraine has given greater prominence to the NATO summit, which has registered in this edition the largest number of accredited journalists in its history, according to allied sources, around 2,000 between journalists and technicians. The meeting has had coverage in the media around the world, beyond the transatlantic area. For the first time, the Heads of State and Government of Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia have been invited.
Not all the countries of the Atlantic Alliance have the capacity to assume the organization of an event of these characteristics, but hosting this type of international meeting is a good way for the countries to achieve global projection and work on their soft power, as the President of the Government did , Pedro Sánchez, with the spectacular dinner held last night at the Prado Museum.
The dinner at the Prado, a "personal commitment" of President Sánchez, has left images that will remain in the retina of many for a long time. The cameras once again demonstrated how the president performs better in international environments than national ones. We again saw affectionate gestures of affection with the French president, complicit looks from Ursula von der Leyen or how Begoña Gómez hugged President Biden with great confidence. While the leaders did public relations, the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, took the opportunity to visit alone the best works of the art gallery.
The total cost of holding the summit for the Spanish public coffers is estimated at around 50 million euros, according to government sources. The figure that includes both the extensive logistics deployment enabled at the Ifema fairgrounds, of some 34,000 square meters, with a base cost of 37 million euros, as well as the security coverage offered to guarantee the protection of the dozens of national delegations coming of all the world. Stoltenberg today thanked the Spanish Government on behalf of all the allies for the "perfect, impeccable and excellent organization". US President Joe Biden, for his part, "spoke in amazement" of the Royal Palace where the first dinner took place, according to the press pool that accompanies him on his travels, noting that the procession crossed "beautiful streets."
The Madrid hotel industry has rubbed its hands after seeing how its luxury hotels have sold out to a full house one week before Madrid lives its true big week, LGTBI Pride, in which downtown hotel rooms will be sold out again from the city. Any collection is good now that Spain will increase its defense budget, the other key that leaves us a "historic" summit.
