Sánchez criticizes those who “in the 21st century” propose illegalizing political parties, alluding to the PP and Vox

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, criticized this Wednesday, without citing them, the PP and Vox, for proposing the illegalization of political forces in their amendments to the amnesty law proposal. Sánchez has defended, before the Spanish ambassadors around the world, “a Spain that is sure of itself, that accepts itself as it is, in all its plurality, that does not allow itself to be carried away by that reactionary thinking that proposes censoring cultural manifestations”, something that, according to the socialist leader, “we are unfortunately also seeing in our country.” The president has contrasted this vision with that of “persecuting those who are different or, nothing more and nothing less than in the 21st century, proposing the illegalization of political parties, the illegalization of those who think differently.”

Sánchez has inaugurated the VIII Conference of Ambassadors at the Foreign Affairs headquarters, which brings together 129 heads of Spanish diplomatic missions in the world; all except the ambassador in Guatemala, a country where the new president, Bernardo Arévalo, will take office this Sunday, with the assistance of Felipe VI.

In a veiled defense of his policy towards Catalonia, the head of the Government recalled how “a decade ago”, Spanish diplomats had to devote themselves to explaining in the countries where they were accredited “why coexistence was broken” in Spain, in reference to to the illegal 1-O referendum; while today “coexistence is making its way amid the differences and intense debates that are normal in a democracy like Spain's,” he added, removing the irony from the controversy over the Government's pacts with pro-independence forces.

After highlighting that so far this century, autocratic regimes have increased by 20% in the world, Sánchez assured that “what is at stake is the survival of democracy”, given the “rise of ultra formations willing to break basic consensus with which we have built our models of coexistence and progress in recent decades.” These are, Sánchez insisted, forces that try to “destabilize our societies, question democracy and human rights, disqualify science, deny the climate emergency, despise culture and those who are different and attack causes as just as feminism and, in consequently, the real and effective equality of men and women.” The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has also warned of the presence in Europe and Spain of “extremist forces that challenge European values” and has highlighted the challenge posed by the elections to the European Parliament in July, in which the EU faces “the dangerous voices of the extreme right and its allies.”

Aware of the controversy caused by his position on the Gaza war – Tel Aviv withdrew its ambassador, Rodica Radian-Gordon, back in Madrid this week – at the end of November, Sánchez has defended the “coherence” of his policy both in the Middle East and in Ukraine, since in both cases an international order based on rules must be defended. Spain, the President of the Government explained to the diplomats, recognizes Israel's right to defend itself, but “the Palestinian population cannot pay for the terrorist acts of Hamas,” he added. After highlighting that the Israeli Army's offensive on the Strip is causing “enormous suffering” and an “unbearable number of civilian victims,” he has once again called for “an immediate and permanent ceasefire” and a solution based on the existence of two States, one Israeli and the other Palestinian, which, he added, “Western countries must recognize once and for all.”

For his part, Albares has asked diplomats to work so that Catalan, Galician and Basque, “co-official languages ​​in Spain”, are included as official languages ​​in the EU. “Spain has a linguistic wealth that deserves to be welcomed and collected in the European Union because it is our identity and our national interest,” he argued. The official status of Catalan in community institutions was one of Junts' demands for voting on the Congress Board last August. Albares then raised the request with his European counterparts, but has not yet managed to overcome the reluctance of some partners.

Both Albares and Sánchez have expressed their concern about the escalation of violence in Ecuador – where the next Ibero-American summit is scheduled to be held in November – and the former has expressed his support for “democratic institutions, as it could not be otherwise” and his confidence that “normality will soon be restored” in the country.

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