Washington:

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday urged the West to reject “double standards” regarding the conflict in Gaza as he joined NATO leaders in supporting Ukraine.

Spain under Sanchez has infuriated Israel’s right-wing government by recognizing a Palestinian state and criticizing Israel’s conduct of its war against Hamas.

“If we are telling our people that we are supporting Ukraine because we are defending the international law, this is the same to what we have to do towards Gaza,” he said at NATO’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington.

The socialist leader said there should be a “consistent political position” in which “we don’t have double standards.”

Sanchez said the world needed to press to “stop this terrible humanitarian crisis” affecting the Palestinians and called for an international peace conference to push for a Palestinian state.

“We need to create the conditions for an immediate and urgent ceasefire,” he said. “There is a real risk of escalation to Lebanon.”

Sanchez said he also supported “democracy, freedom and the right to exist of a country such as Ukraine.”

NATO leaders at the summit issued a declaration that said Kyiv was on an “irreversible” path to join the alliance.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A picture of a TV screen taken on May 28, 2024, shows Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez delivering a speech over the recognition of Palestinian statehood by Spain, at La Moncloa Palace in Madrid.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the Spanish Cabinet will recognise a Palestinian state at its May 28 morning meeting as a European Union rift with Israel widens.

Ireland and Norway were also to make official their recognition of a Palestinian state later in the day. While dozens of countries have recognised a Palestinian state, none of the major Western powers has done so.

“This is a historic decision that has a single goal, and that is to help Israelis and Palestinians achieve peace,” said Sánchez, standing at the gates of the prime minister’s palace in Madrid, during a televised speech.

The Socialist leader, who announced his country’s decision before parliament last week, has spent months touring European and Middle Eastern countries to garner support for recognition and a cease-fire in Gaza.

Relations between the EU and Israel nosedived Monday, the eve of the diplomatic recognition EU members Ireland and Spain, with Madrid insisting that the EU should take action against Israel for its continued deadly attacks in southern Gaza’s city of Rafah.

Norway, which is not an EU member but often aligns its foreign policy with the bloc, handed diplomatic papers to the Palestinian government over the weekend ahead of its formal recognition of a Palestinian state.

Also Read | Israel to reprimand Irish, Norwegian, Spanish envoys over Palestine recognition

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Spain that its consulate in Jerusalem will not be allowed to help Palestinians.

At the same time, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell threw his weight to support the International Criminal Court, whose prosecutor is seeking an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others, including leaders of the Hamas militant group.

In his speech on Tuesday, Mr. Sánchez said that the recognition of a Palestinian state was “a decision that we do not adopt against anyone, least of all against Israel, a friendly people whom we respect, whom we appreciate and with whom we want to have the best possible relationship.”

He called for a permanent cease-fire, for stepping up humanitarian aid into Gaza and for the release of hostages that Hamas has held since the October 7 attack that triggered Israel’s response.

Mr. Sánchez also laid out his vision for a state ruled by the Palestinian National Authority that must connect the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem through a corridor.

“We will not recognise changes in the 1967 border lines other than those agreed to by the parties,” Mr. Sánchez added.

Madrid:

Spain recalled its ambassador to Buenos Aires for consultations on Sunday after Argentina’s President Javier Milei made derogatory comments about Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s wife during a far-right rally in Madrid.

Milei had called Sanchez’s wife Begona Gomez “corrupt” during a rally in Madrid organised by the far-right Vox party and attended by many of its international allies.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said he expected an apology from Milei.

Other ministers also condemned Milei’s speech, in which he described socialism as “cursed and carcinogenic”. Sanchez leads Spain’s Socialist Party.

“With his behaviour, Milei has brought the relationship between Spain and Argentina to its most serious state in recent history,” Albares said in a video statement.

Milei’s visit broke with diplomatic protocol as he refused to meet Spain’s King Felipe and Sanchez, instead preferring to promote his book alongside Vox leader Santiago Abascal at the party rally.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said in a post on social messaging app X that “attacks against family members of political leaders have no place in our culture”.

Spain’s main opposition party, the conservative People’s Party (PP), refused to support Madrid’s stance, with party sources saying that Sanchez should have provided explanations about the alleged corruption case weeks ago.

“His silence generates internal doubts, but also distrust abroad,” a PP source said, adding that the party’s job was to oppose the Spanish government and not Milei.

A city court said in April it was looking into accusations of influence peddling and business corruption against Sanchez’s wife, brought in a private complaint by Manos Limpias, or Clean Hands, an anti-corruption activist group.

However, Madrid’s prosecuting authority later said it was appealing to have the case thrown out for lack of evidence.

Sanchez decided to stay in office after five days of weighing his future once the probe against his wife was announced.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Spain on May 4 denounced comments by Argentina’s presidency which had accused the Spanish government of bringing “poverty and death” to its own people.

The office of Argentinian President Javier Milei had published a statement on X, accusing Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of damaging Spain’s economy and stability.

The post appears to have been in reaction to earlier comments from Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente who had suggested Mr. Milei is on drugs.

“The Spanish government categorically rejects the unfounded words… which do not reflect the relations between the two countries and their fraternal people,” the Spanish foreign ministry said.

Mr. Milei’s office also accused Mr. Sanchez of “endangering the unity of the kingdom, by sealing an agreement with the separatists and leading Spain to its ruin”, an allusion to a pact Sanchez’s Socialist Party struck with Basque and Catalan regionalist parties to form a government.

Mr. Milei will travel to Spain in two weeks for an event on May 18 and 19 organised by the far-right opposition party Vox, which is in a race with the Socialists in next month’s European elections.

People gather outside Spain’s Socialist Party (PSOE) headquarters to show support for the Secretary General of PSOE and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, in Madrid, Spain April 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Thousands of Socialist Party supporters travelled from across Spain for a rally in Madrid on April 27 to call on Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to stay on, after he stunned the country this week by saying he might quit the premiership.

Mr. Sanchez said on Wednesday he would step back “for a few days” to decide whether he wants to continue leading the government after a court launched a business corruption probe into his wife’s private dealings. He said this was part of a sustained campaign of slander against him and his family by political opponents.

Mr. Sanchez denies the allegations made against his wife, Begona Gomez, and said he will announce his decision on his future on Monday.

“Prime Minister, stay, Pedro, stay. We are with you,” Maria Jesus Montero, Deputy Prime Minister and Treasury Minister, told a meeting of the federal committee of the Socialist Party at its Madrid headquarters.

Outside, euphoric supporters thronged the streets and played popular pop songs urging Mr. Sanchez to stay, with many waving flags or with their faces painted.

Some 12,500 supporters joined the rally, according to the Spanish government.

“I hope he continues, because Spain has to continue with him. If not, it scares me. We are afraid of what could come,” Leonor Romero, 56, a councillor from Huelva, southern Spain, told Reuters.

“He must continue. I think he is not going to resign. He will leave us orphans,” Jose Luis Trigo, 74, a pensioner, said.

Opposition parties have condemned Mr. Sanchez’s move.

“I ask all citizens not to be fooled. Spain does not have a problem, the one who has a judicial problem is Sánchez, his government, his party and his circle. Let them solve it,” Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, the leader of the opposition conservative People’s Party (PP), told a meeting in Tarragona in Catalonia.

A survey, carried out for the PP by the polling company Sigmados, found 54.1% believed Mr. Sanchez’s period of reflection was a “political strategy” to gain support before the Catalan elections on May 12 and European Parliamentary elections in June.

Some 56.4% of the 1,527 people questioned, said they believe Mr. Sanchez will not resign on Monday while 21.2% said they thought the prime minister will call for a motion of confidence in parliament.

Madrid’s prosecuting authority said on Thursday it was appealing Wednesday’s decision by a city court to look into the private complaint laid by an activist group linked to the far-right against Gomez over alleged influence peddling and business corruption.

Mr. Sanchez came to power in 2018.

A freight truck ploughed into a police checkpoint in southern Spain early on March 19, killing six people including two officers, the regional government said.

Three other people were injured in the accident, which happened at around 4:30 a.m. (0330 GMT) on a highway near the town of Los Palacios in the province of Seville, the government of Andalusia said in a statement.

All three injured belong to the Civil Guards police force, the force said in a message on X, formerly Twitter.

“I would like to send all my love and solidarity to the families of the people who died, two of them police officers, in a road check,” Prime Minster Pedro Sanchez wrote on X, formerly Twitter, adding he wished a “speedy recovery for the injured in this tragic accident”.

Spanish media said the officers who were run over by the truck were carrying out routine checks against drug trafficking. The driver of the truck has been detained and tested negative for drugs and alcohol, the reports said.

A representative of the central government in the province of Seville, Francisco Toscano, told news radio Cadena Ser that the driver appears to have been “distracted” and accidentally hit the police checkpoint.

The accident comes after two Civil Guards were killed in February after being hit by a drug traffickers’ boat during a chase in the harbour at Barbate, near the major southern port of Cadiz, in Andalusia.

Spain is one of the main entry points for drugs into Europe given its close ties with Latin America, which is the main source of cocaine, and its proximity to Morocco, a key source of cannabis resin.

New Delhi:

Spain’s President Pedro Sanchez has announced that he tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and will not be able to attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi.

President Sanchez said that he was feeling “fine”, adding that Spain would be represented at the G20 Summit by First Vice President Nadia Calvino Santamaria and Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares.

“This afternoon I have tested positive for COVID and will not be able to travel to New Delhi for the G20 Summit. I feel fine. Spain will be magnificently represented by the First Vice President and Minister of Economic Affairs and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, EU and Cooperation,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Esta tarde he dado positivo en COVID y no podré viajar a Nueva Delhi para asistir a la Cumbre del G-20.

Me encuentro bien.

España estará magníficamente representada por la vicepresidenta primera y ministra de Asuntos Económicos y el ministro de Exteriores, UE y Cooperación.

— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) September 7, 2023

President Sanchez joins Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping as the third world leader to withdraw from the summit. 

The G20 Leaders’ Summit will be held in the national capital on September 9-10. More than 30 heads of state and top officials from the European Union, invited guest countries, and 14 heads of international organisations are expected to attend.