Spanish → English transcript

Von der Leyen suggests that Europe needs a more realistic foreign policy and that we

cannot trust in the rules- based system.

What did you think of this proposal by the president of the Commission?

I think there are elements of the… of the… of the…

of the president of the Commission’s speech that Spain can agree with.

This is, for example, the case of trade policy. It is, without any doubt,

el caso de la política comercial. Es, sin duda alguna,

also respect for international law and national

sovereignty when, for example, it affects Greenland,

which was mentioned in her speech quite a few times.

But from the point of view of Spanish foreign policy,

we feel much more comfortable with the approach put forward by the president of the

Council, António Costa. Because, indeed, the world of yesterday

it is the world without rules. The… the… the dilemma is not an

old order versus new order,

it is an international order versus international disorder.

International disorder is what led us to two world wars.

And the question one should ask is,

if international law did not exist, if the United Nations system did not exist,

si no existiera el sistema de Naciones Unidas,

it is clear that it would have to be invented.

And therefore, I think what we have to do

And therefore, I think what we have to do

is renew that international system, it is

to revitalize it, because with…

with a system that is much more representative of what the world is in the twenty-

first century than what it was 80 years ago, but without declaring it dead.

Therefore, I think the conclusion could be: the world is changing,

but the values and principles of the

European Union should not change.