The Defense Minister, Margaret Oakshas taken advantage of his appearance before the Congress Defense Commission to send a message of support to the espionage service personnel this Wednesday, although without any praise for its director, Peace Stephen. Robles said that feels “proud” of “the 3,000 men and women of the National Intelligence Centerwhich turns 20 this year, and who have also sometimes given their lives for peace and security”.
In the turn of answers he did mention the head of the CNI, of whom he said that “she is stoically enduring accusations that do not adhere to reality”. Robles has warned that this Thursday, in the session of the Reserved Expenses Commission, there could be revelations that turn off “the accusations without evidence” about the actions of the secret services, when Paz Esteban can ” say what you deem appropriate” with “the documentation you deem appropriate”.
“In Democracy, only the judges say the responsibilities. Whoever considers that a crime has been committed against him has to go to the judge“, Robles insisted before reiterating: “My respect and admiration for the 3,000 men and women of the CNI. It is very comfortable to come here and make accusations without evidence.”
Given that the appearance was not without tension between the socialist part of the Government and the Podemos flank, Minister Robles reminded the deputy Paul Echenique that the CNI reports to the President of the Government “and to the Government”, of which Podemos is a part.
On a morning with a rising tide of rumors about an ever closer dismissal of the head of the CNI, the head of Defense has alluded to the Pegasus scandal defending the Government’s reaction before the courts and public opinion. “When someone has knowledge of a criminal act, they should not shut it up or keep it, must go to court and we went with full confidence and transparency”, said Robles.
The Minister of Defense deplored “the permanent disqualification of the institutions”, and wanted to defend the image of Spain’s security structure abroad: “Our allies know that Spain is a serious country with solid and credible institutions, with a commitment to the rule of law, and that our officials act only in accordance with the law – he assured -. that no one, with speculation, without evidence, imputing known or unknown authors, can attribute any type of responsibility. The 47 million citizens of this country know that we work for and with them.”
Opposition and partner criticism
Robles appears this Wednesday in the Defense Commission of Congress in the midst of scandal for the new revelations (after some first ones in 2020) about the assault of spyware supposedly from the Pegasus program on the mobile phones of 65 Catalan independentistas… and also of members of the Government, among them President Sanchez and herself.
The purpose of his appearance is, officially, to inform the deputies of the Defense Commission about the Strategic Compass of the European Union. But the gravitational weight of the Pegasus scandal is influencing all the interventions, despite the attempts of the president of the Commission, the popular Jose Antonio Bermudez de Castrothat Members focus on the agenda of the session.
Paul Echenique has intervened on behalf of Podemos before Minister Robles to announce that her parliamentary group considers “unsustainable” the situation. He has spoken of a “very serious breach in national security.” Espionage on mobile phones of ministers “is a real scandal that does not make espionage on Catalan and Basque independence fighters any less serious.” For Echenique “the seriousness of this espionage is unprecedented in our democracy & rdquor ;. The leader of Podemos has insisted on including andAmong the hypotheses of authorship of the wiretaps, that of “an uncontrolled cell & rdquor; of the state security forces.
the people’s deputy Carlos Rojas He has taken advantage of the discomfort of Podemos by urging the minister: “You must now act with loyalty to the institutions of the State, not only you: the entire Government. They cannot allow the Council of Ministers not only to criticize the institutions, but to attack them”.
In the turn of the PP’s intervention, after Vox exhausted his without any reference to Pegasus, Rojas has asked that these institutions be defended “without exceptions… ysIf there are exceptions, they must be stopped & rdquor ;. The popular deputy has considered it “unheard of” that Robles “has a harder time defending the 3,000 CNI professionals in the Council of Ministers than in this commission.”
secret affair
The deputy of the CUP Mireia Vehí It has been the first to run into a blanket of legal silence about what happened. Vehí began by asking about the details of the CNI wiretapping, but the president of the commission cut off the intervention, recalling that Minister Robles, in accordance with the law, You will not be able to give explanations on secret matters. Vehí has insisted, obtaining a second wake-up call from the president reminding him that reserved matters will be discussed this Thursday at the first session of the Commission on Reserved Expenses, before which the Secretary of State, director general of the CNI, will appear.
“Why is it more important that the president of the Spanish government be spied on than the president of the Generalitat de Catalunya?”, asked the deputy from Esquerra Montserrat Bassa. In his opinion, “the State is in a cold war with Catalonia & rdquor ;. Bassa has recommended Robles: “If you want to know what the president AragoneseInstead of spying on him, sit down at the negotiating table and listen to him.”
The parliamentarian of Esquerra has pointed out in one of her speeches one of the keys to the argument that at an international level moves the Catalan independence movement at a time when a European ruling on the trial of the Process: has reminded Robles that “The lawyer who coordinated the defense of the defendants has been spied on, Andreu Van den Eynde”.
In another Catalan turn of intervention, the deputy of Junts has pronounced harshly Joseph Pages. “The facts are indicators that there are enormous and massive violations of rights & rdquor ;, he has said before criticizing “the denial phase” through which the Government passes. “If you don’t like the evidence provided by Citizen Lab, please provide others. As much as you tell us that the rule of law is respected… those are words, and what the Citizen Lab report collects are facts & rdquor ;. Pagés has snapped at the minister: “A month before the NATO summit, what an image you are giving & rdquor ;.
“This is a disaster, a disaster that has to be solved and clarified,” lamented the PNV deputy Joseba Andoni Agirretxea, warning that his political formation “is not going to allow him to hide”. In a similar vein, EH Bildu deputy Jon Iñarritu has described the Pegasus affair as a “huge scandal”, and has reminded Robles that “if the CNI cannot defend itself, that is what you are for, minister.”
It was shortly before the representative of Citizens in the Commission, Edmund Valhas slipped into an expression of support for the minister and the CNI – “Its members they can’t defend themselves“, he said- a subtle request that he say something in support of the director general of the CNI.
High temperature
A week ago, Robles raised the temperature of the Pegasus fire considerably when, in his speech at the control session for the Government of the Low camera, he asked rhetorically what a state should do to defend itself against those who attack it, attracting criticism not only from the nationalist parties, but also from the minor partner of the government coalition and even sotto voceof members of the PSOE.
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“What does a State, a Government, have to do when someone violates the Constitution, when someone declares independence…?” Robles asked after deputy Mireia Vehí questioned him about the revelations published by the entity. Citizen Lab in the American magazine The New Yorker.
This Monday the Government summoned the media to report that Sanchez and Robles They had also been spied on. The State Attorney has denounced that in the two intrusions in Sánchez’s mobile, in the month of May of last year, 2.6 gigabytes and 130 megabytes of data were extracted, and 9 megabytes of information in the case of Robles, in a single attack in June 2021, according to government sources.
Spain will treat wounded from the Ukraine war
People affected by the bombing and fighting in Ukraine will receive health care in Spanish hospitals in the coming days. The Defense Minister has announced that Spain is going to “bring war-wounded from Ukraine & rdquor ;, with which this country becomes part of the Ukrainian health rearguard.
n this Wednesday’s session of the Congressional Defense Commission, Minister Margarita Robles has made several references to the invasion of Ukraine for Russia, expressing at the very beginning of his appearance an expression of solidarity from Spain and renewing “the commitment & rdquor; of the Government with the attacked country.
“In concert, the EU and NATO multiply their potential. We are showing what we Europeans are capable of when we put aside any fissure. The full strength of the Union has been revealed when its member states act in coordination & rdquor ;, she said. The union of Europe in the face of the aggression against Ukraine has been branded by the minister as “one of Putin’s clear defeats & rdquor ;.
european compass
In purely military matters, which was initially the subject of her appearance, Minister Robles explained the objectives of the EU’s Strategic Defense Compass, almost all of which are oriented towards “the search for autonomous capabilities for Europe”.
Among these objectives is to increase the capacity of deployment of 5,000 troops as a more immediate response to moments of serious security crises. In addition, increase the capabilities of the intelligence acquisition centers and the European Satellite Center to gain defense autonomy.
Margarita Robles has also explained, in terms of strategic associations, that the European compass has Spain as the main pivot for “relations with some areas of interest”, referring to the Maghreb and Latin America.
Robles took advantage of his appearance to recall the need to invest in Defense which, in his opinion, “is invest in some of the most precious assets that we have: peace, freedom and security & rdquor ;.