The Minister for Social Rights and the 2030 Agenda, and Secretary General of Podemos, Ione Belarra, spoke out this Wednesday against the sending of tanks by Spain to Ukraine in the context of the war with Russia. Belarra has defended that Spain should lead the diplomatic path and negotiation as a means of ending the conflict.
The minister has defended this position, which follows the line of Podemos to try to stop the war through a negotiation that manages to de-escalate the conflict, during her speech at the opening ceremony of the conference Materializing social rights: progress and challenges of the European Network to Fight Poverty in Spain (EAPNE), held at the headquarters of his Ministry.
The general secretary of Podemos recalled that Spain has led some of the most relevant formulas at the European level to face and overcome the crisis of the pandemic and the coronavirus, with social measures and protection of families and companies, and with commitments such as the gas price capwhich has allowed the country to maintain inflation several points below the EU average.
In this sense, he has asked that it also lead a firm commitment to the diplomatic resolution of the war that began after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: “Spain has led the social and economic transformations in Europe in the face of two economic crises. It is time to also lead the diplomatic track in the war in Ukraine”, he said.
The Minister of Social Rights has also warned that sending tanks to the conflict could have a series of dangerous consequences derived from the “unpredictable” response that Russia can giveIn addition to the fact that, he has expressed, it is not an average that serves to advance in the de-escalation.
“Many experts warn that a massive deployment of Leopard would only contribute to the escalation of the war and could have an unpredictable and very dangerous response from Russia,” he assured.
Belarra has closed his speech on this matter by warning that only in a context of peace can the social and democratic advances that, he has defended, the European Union need be developed: “Peace will be born by negotiating and de-escalating, and that is where we have to find Spain. Peace is a condition of possibility to close the inequality gap and guarantee social rights throughout Europe”.
The confederal space of United We Can held a meeting this Wednesday to assess the decision of the socialist wing of the Government to send tanks to Ukraine, in which they condemned the Russian invasion and the verification that there is widespread concern in Spanish society about an extension of the conflict that can have a more direct impact on Europe. In this sense, according to space sources, the position of betting on diplomatic channels to end the war as soon as possible was reaffirmed.
