The Spanish frigate ‘Christopher Columbus’ has arrived in Crete while continuing on its way to Cyprus. A Reuters video shows the moment it docks on the Greek island while the controversy continues in our country over the sending of said frigate by the Sánchez Government.
The last to speak out was the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, who has once again ruled out that Spain can participate in a possible mission to protect navigation in the Strait of Hormuz proposed by France, also rejecting that Spanish minehunters, which are already on NATO missions, can be deployed in the area.
“Spain will never be in any mission that does not have international support or umbrella” whether from the United Nations, the Atlantic Alliance or the European Union, Robles stressed in statements to the press during his visit to the MOPS at the Retamares base, in Pozuelo (Madrid).
No proposals for a defensive mission in Hormuz
The minister has insisted that Spain has agreed for the frigate ‘Christopher Columbus’ to move to Cyprus alongside the naval group led by the French aircraft carrier ‘Charles de Gaulle’ to participate in a “protection and security” mission in the Mediterranean and has no intention of going further. The argument that the Executive alleges is that it is about helping a European partner.
“We don’t know what the mission that France wants to do is going to be,” added the minister, in reference to the proposal that French President Emmanuel Macron put on the table last Monday, to deploy a defensive mission in the Strait of Hormuz to guarantee navigation.
“That is a mission that in its case, if it is raised by France, is an issue for France, but at this moment at the international level it has not been raised either in NATO or in the European Union and therefore Spain has nothing to say,” insisted Robles, who has made it clear that the Government is always “respectful” with the new missions that allied countries may propose.
