Pedro Sánchez and his parliamentary partners boycott Spain's defense policy

Europe is experiencing a key moment in defense policy due to Russia's aggressive policy and its threats to several European countries.

Sanchez ignores the Russian threat and continues to weaken Spain
The infamous favors of Pedro Sánchez's government to Vladimir Putin's dictatorship

The selective pacifism of the radical left

The political shift in the United States, with the Trump administration giving clear signals of wanting to disengage from Europe, necessarily implies that Europeans are going to have to invest more in their own defense if they want to face the challenges they face, especially the situation created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with which Russia has adopted a policy of right of conquest that takes us back to the years of the Second World War in terms of strategic threats to peace.

For Europe, the necessary increase in investment in defense collides with the selective pacifism that has been promoted by the radical left, which rejects any increase in military spending but which, when dealing with the aforementioned invasion, has directed more criticism at NATO, a defensive organisation, than at Russia for its expansionist policy. Something that cannot surprise anyone if we take into account that a large part of this radical left is in the hands of communist parties that have been acting with affinity to Moscow out of pure inertia since the years of the Cold War.

Sánchez's communist partners do not want more investment in defense

Ramiro Fernández-Chillón addresses today in El Debate the disagreement between Pedro Sánchez's socialists and their far-left partners regarding the increase in investment in defense. The news mentions three of these partners: Sumar, the coalition that has among its members the vice president Yolanda Díaz, a member of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE); Izquierda Unida, the electoral brand controlled by the PCE since the 1980s; and Podemos, which has well-known leaders who declare themselves communists, among them its founder Pablo Iglesias Turrión.

The common denominator of these three parties is their opposition to increased military spending, appealing to pacifist theses. This discourse will please the voters of these political organizations, but it has a serious problem of contrast with reality: in the event of a military aggression against Spain, what do they propose to do? Negotiate with the aggressors? Give up part of our territory to achieve a cessation of hostilities? These are unanswered questions that reveal what really underlies these pacifist speeches.

A false pacifism motivated by hostility towards the West

The radical left has been displaying for many years an ideological hostility towards the West which has led them, in many cases, to oppose initiatives against Islamist terrorism. Let us remember that while ISIS terrorists were perpetrating the Nineveh genocide against Christians and Yazidis in Iraq in 2014, the Spanish far-left parties opposed sending military aid to stop the massacre, not even the way in which the Spanish military mission was carried out, which was as a training program for the Iraqi Army to combat terrorists.

Sanchez went so far as to say that the Ministry of Defense was "superfluous"

It should be noted that the position of the Spanish extreme left on defense matters has also been shared by the socialists on some occasions. Let us remember, for example, that Spanish socialists and communists denounced a French attack against ISIS positions in Syria in November 2015. On the other hand, it is worth remembering that in October 2014, in an interview with the newspaper El Mundo, Pedro Sánchez stated that "the Ministry of Defense is unnecessary", when asked which ministry is superfluous.

The Spanish government fails to meet its commitments to NATO

This attitude towards national defense explains the systematic failure of Spain's commitments to NATO by the Sánchez government. Even today, Spain is the NATO country that invests the least percentage of its GDP in defense, along with Belgium and Luxembourg: 1.3%. Let us remember that in 2014 NATO established the need to reach 2% by 2024, but the Sánchez government postponed it until 2030, perhaps with the intention of not meeting that percentage by then either. Ultimately, in addition to the communists, Sanchez bases his permanence in power on the support of separatist parties that feel disdain for Spain and its defense, among them parties that asked Russia for help to break national unity. This makes it impossible for Spain to fulfill its commitments to NATO.

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Photo: Efe. Socialist Pedro Sánchez, president of the Spanish government, sitting on the blue bench in Congress (reserved for the executive) alongside the second vice president of the government, the communist Yolanda Díaz.