Latest news with #JoséManuelAlbares
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Spain and Portugal show little enthusiasm for defence spending hike
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul encountered little enthusiasm for increased defence spending during his visit to Spain and Portugal on Monday. Germany is seeking to shore up support for a massive hike in defence spending, with both Wadephul and Chancellor Friedrich Merz backing a proposal to increase defence-related spending by NATO members to 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), with an additional 1.5% for military infrastructure. Such an increase in spending would require a massive financial commitment by NATO countries. When asked by journalists after the meeting with Wadephul whether Spain was prepared to increase its defence budget to 5% of GDP in future, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares responded that Spain is making greater efforts in the defence sector than ever before. However, Albares described the existing NATO target of 2% of GDP as "realistic." Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel meanwhile said his country would "naturally" support a decision to increase the military budget, but admitted that the target of 2% had "not yet been fully" achieved. US President Donald Trump, signalling he is tired of European countries piggy-backing on Washington's massive defence budget, is pushing for defence spending to be raised to 5% of GDP. Spain is currently among the alliance's members spending least on defence, with military expenditure amounting to some 1.3% of GDP - well below the current target of at least 2%. While Portugal recently raised defence spending, expenditure in Europe's westernmost nation only stood at 1.6% of GDP in 2024.
Saudi Gazette
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
Spain hosts European and Arab nations to discuss Israel's Gaza assault
MADRID — Spain hosted European and Arab countries for high-level talks in Madrid on Sunday, in an effort to pressure Israel to stop its military offensive in Gaza and move forward with a two-state solution. 'The only interest that all of us who are gathered here today... is to stop this unjust, cruel, inhumane war by Israel in Gaza, to break the blockade of humanitarian aid and to move definitively towards a two-state solution," Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, told media ahead of the meeting of 20 countries. Albares referred to Gaza as an "open wound in humanity," that is claiming victims every day, and warned that silence is an "accomplice to this massacre." The Madrid Group, also known as the G5+, is made up of European and Arab countries that promote the two-state solution. Albares reassured that the group will take into account the peace and security of the people of Israel, but emphasized that the Palestinian people have the same right to such safety. "Spain is going to propose here in Madrid today that there should be a major movement to recognize the Palestinian State. Again, not against the State of Israel, but in favor of the two-state solution," the foreign affairs minister also advocated for the suspension of the EU-Israel deal if Israel does not halt its military offensive in Gaza, which it recently ramped up in an effort to increase pressure on Hamas despite international pressure on the militant group has included an aid blockage of almost three months, which raised widespread concerns about the critical risk of meeting marked the fifth time the group of diplomats sat together, and comes ahead of a high-level UN conference on the two-state solution, which France and Saudi Arabia will host in New York, US, in Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said he hoped for US President Donald Trump to be present, and called the United States an "important stakeholder in the Middle East.""We would like to see them engaged as much as possible. Their efforts in terms of Gaza ceasefire is appreciated," Mustafa said. "So hopefully more engagement, positive engagement by the US will bring help , bring peace and stability for the region.' — Euronews
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Spain hosts European and Arab nations to discuss Israel-Palestine two-state solution
Spain hosted European and Arab countries for high-level talks in Madrid on Sunday, in an effort to pressure Israel to stop its military offensive in Gaza and move forward with a two-state solution. 'The only interest that all of us who are gathered here today... is to stop this unjust, cruel, inhumane war by Israel in Gaza, to break the blockade of humanitarian aid and to move definitively towards a two-state solution," Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, told media ahead of the meeting of 20 countries. Albares referred to Gaza as an "open wound in humanity," that is claiming victims every day, and warned that silence is an "accomplice to this massacre." The Madrid Group, also known as the G5+, is made up of European and Arab countries that promote the two-state solution. Albares reassured that the group will take into account the peace and security of the people of Israel, but emphasised that the Palestinian people have the same right to such safety. "Spain is going to propose here in Madrid today that there should be a major movement to recognise the Palestinian State. Again, not against the State of Israel, but in favour of the two-state solution," the foreign affairs minister said. Albares also advocated for the suspension of the EU-Israel deal if Israel does not halt its military offensive in Gaza, which it recently ramped up in an effort to increase pressure on Hamas despite international criticism. Israel's pressure on the militant group has included an aid blockage of almost three months, which raised widespread concerns about the critical risk of famine. Sunday's meeting marked the fifth time the group of diplomats sat together, and comes ahead of a high-level UN conference on the two-state solution expected to take place in New York in mid-June. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said he hoped for US President Donald Trump to be present, and called the United States an "important stakeholder in the Middle East." "We would like to see them engaged as much as possible. Their efforts in terms of Gaza ceasefire is appreciated," Mustafa said. "So hopefully more engagement, positive engagement by the US will bring help , bring peace and stability for the region.'
Euronews
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Spain hosts nations to discuss Israel-Palestine two-state solution
Spain hosted European and Arab countries for high-level talks in Madrid on Sunday, in an effort to pressure Israel to stop its military offensive in Gaza and move forward with a two-state solution. 'The only interest that all of us who are gathered here today... is to stop this unjust, cruel, inhumane war by Israel in Gaza, to break the blockade of humanitarian aid and to move definitively towards a two-state solution," Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, told media ahead of the meeting of 20 countries. Albares referred to Gaza as an "open wound in humanity," that is claiming victims every day, and warned that silence is an "accomplice to this massacre." The Madrid Group, also known as the G5+, is made up of European and Arab countries that promote the two-state solution. Albares reassured that the group will take into account the peace and security of the people of Israel, but emphasised that the Palestinian people have the same right to such safety. "Spain is going to propose here in Madrid today that there should be a major movement to recognise the Palestinian State. Again, not against the State of Israel, but in favour of the two-state solution," the foreign affairs minister said. Albares also advocated for the suspension of the EU-Israel deal if Israel does not halt its military offensive in Gaza, which it recently ramped up in an effort to increase pressure on Hamas despite international criticism. Israel's pressure on the militant group has included an aid blockage of almost three months, which raised widespread concerns about the critical risk of famine. Sunday's meeting marked the fifth time the group of diplomats sat together, and comes ahead of a high-level UN conference on the two-state solution expected to take place in New York in mid-June. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said he hoped for US President Donald Trump to be present, and called the United States an "important stakeholder in the Middle East." "We would like to see them engaged as much as possible. Their efforts in terms of Gaza ceasefire is appreciated," Mustafa said. "So hopefully more engagement, positive engagement by the US will bring help , bring peace and stability for the region.'
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Spain calls for international weapons embargo on Israeli government
Spain is calling for an international arms embargo on the Israeli government to end the war and the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip. "We must all agree on a joint arms embargo," Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told journalists at the start of a ministerial meeting of the so-called Madrid Group in the Spanish capital on Sunday. "The last thing the Middle East needs right now is weapons." Albares also called for an "immediate suspension" of the European Union's partnership agreement with Israel - a measure currently being considered in Brussels - and for the imposition of targeted sanctions against individuals "who obstruct the two-state solution." If necessary, sanctions should also be imposed against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Albares asserted. "Nothing that is being discussed here is directed against the State of Israel," the top Spanish diplomat emphasized. But he also made it clear that "the Palestinian people have exactly the same right to peace and security as the Israeli people." There is no alternative to the two-state solution for achieving lasting and just peace, Albares said. In an interview with French broadcaster France Info shortly before, the minister had said: "What is the alternative? Kill all Palestinians? Drive them... I don't know where... to the moon? (...) Or give them Israeli citizenship?" The Spanish government is one of the harshest critics in Europe of Israel's military action in Gaza. In September last year, it organized a first meeting of the Madrid Group. Ministers and high-ranking representatives from around 20 countries in Europe and the Arab world, as well as Brazil, are taking part in the second meeting. Germany was involved for the first time and was represented by Foreign Office minister Florian Hahn. Since the start of the Gaza war with the unprecedented massacre by Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023, more than 53,900 people have been killed according to Palestinian sources. More than 122,700 have been injured.
