The PSOE meeting on sending weapons to Ukraine: "We are doing the right thing so that they defend themselves and resist"

The PSOE ostentatiously ignored Podemos at its federal committee meeting on Sunday.

There was not an explicit reference to the minority partner of the Government, although the criticisms of the ministers Ione Belarra and Irene Montero, and other leaders such as their spokesman in Congress, Pablo Echenique, to the sending of weapons to the population of Ukraine were very present .

The socialist barons defended, without expressing doubts and sometimes even enthusiastically, Pedro Sánchez's decision to supply Ukraine with light weapons, such as grenade launchers and machine guns, according to the dozen committee sources consulted by EL PAÍS.

The consideration that Belarra made of the PSOE as a "party of the war" - from which Podemos retracted this Monday - reached Ferraz practically at the end of the meeting of the highest socialist decision-making body.

The territorial leaders and members of the national leadership consulted at that time referred to the closed-door interventions in which Pedro Sánchez's decision to deliver "offensive military material to the Ukrainian resistance" that the Prime Minister announced last week was defended. passed in Parliament.

The presidents Ximo Puig (Valencian Community), Emiliano García-Page (Castilla-La Mancha) and Ángel Víctor Torres (Canary Islands) could not attend due to agenda reasons.

Adrian Barbon (Asturias).

"We are where we need to be."

“I think we are doing the right thing.

We are delivering war material so that [the Ukrainians] defend themselves, so that they resist at the same time that we sanction economically, ”said the president of Asturias, Adrián Barbón in his intervention.

“We are where we have to be and we do what we have to do.

It is evident that [the Government's position] enjoys the majority support of Spanish citizens.

But I want to add one thing: even if it did not enjoy the majority support of Spanish citizens, our convictions should lead us to do what we are doing”, the Baron of the Principality abounded.

Barbón recalled that article 98.2 of the Constitution establishes that "the president directs the action of the Government and coordinates the functions of the other members of the same, without prejudice to the competence and direct responsibility of these in its management."

"There is no possible division [in the Executive] when the president is the one who makes the decision," he said.

Javier Lambán (Aragon).

"Zelensky is on his way to becoming the hero of our time."

"Whoever in Spain thinks that what is happening in the Ukraine is not concerned is absolutely wrong," Javier Lambán added.

The president of Aragon stressed that "the vast majority of Spanish society, of public opinion, absolutely shares" the position of the PSOE and, by extension, of La Moncloa.

"We have to place ourselves from the personal and institutional point of view, with ethical effort, from all areas in which we can act, in support and solidarity with the people of Ukraine", settled the Aragonese leader.

Lambán expressed his admiration for the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky: "He is on his way to becoming the hero of our time, he is showing dignity, courage, courage and determination that make him a reference".

Salvador Illa (Catalonia).

“The shipment of weapons has become unavoidable.”

“

It seemed inconceivable and suddenly the shipment of weapons to the attacked country has become inevitable.

Shipment of weapons to which Spain has rightly joined”, Salvador Illa closed the ranks.

The first secretary of the PSC highlighted "the 180-degree Copernican turn" of countries of the relevance of Germany with its increase in spending on defense policies.

The former Minister of Health highlighted the status of Chancellor Olaf Scholz as a Social Democrat.

Illa stressed the need to be proactive in the face of the war started by the Russian Army in Ukraine.

“We must defend our values, those of a unique system in historical and geographical terms.

This is Europe.

This is a shared public space of 450 million inhabitants.

The invasion of Ukraine is an attack on this Europe, on this value system to which we belong.

It becomes, in my opinion, the number one priority now”, he concluded after assessing other measures approved by the EU, a package of economic sanctions “unprecedented” for an average economy such as that of the Russian Federation “which is, moreover, a nuclear power”.

The role of the Spanish Government within the EU in the most serious conflict on European soil since the Second World War, the duration of which no one is capable of foreseeing and which threatens with unforeseeable consequences, was one of the issues to which most attention was paid .

Guillermo Fernández Vara (Extremadura): "Putin must face strong leadership."

“There are especially difficult moments in life.

And this is one of them.

That is why we have to be aware of our organization, which is always very important and at times like this it is much more so”, Guillermo Fernández Vara claimed the almost 143-year history of the PSOE.

The president of Extremadura did not walk with hot cloth: “Europe needs strong leadership.

Putin must have strong leaderships in front of him and today we do not have plenty of strong leaderships in Europe”.

"You are four or five people who must place on your shoulders the new responsibility of facing something for which obviously none of us was prepared," he told the Prime Minister.

Fernández Vara recalled the interest that the Russian regime has shown in recent years to destabilize the EU and other consolidated democracies in the West.

“Putin has been messing around for a long time, he has messed up in the most diverse ways, financing sovereign processes here, there and everywhere.

When he has seen that none of this has served to erode the European Union, which is his objective, well, he has gone to plan B, which is war”.

The federal committee approved a resolution in which, in addition to the adoption of economic sanctions, it supported the EU's decision to ban the dissemination of Kremlin propaganda.

Maria Chivite (Navarra).

"All the support to attend to the humanitarian emergency."

The president of Navarra was also unequivocal in her support for collaboration, without exception, with Kiev.

"All the support to attend to the humanitarian emergency and help the people of Ukraine, the defense of their rights and freedoms from the invasion that Putin has initiated", intervened the head of the regional community.

Juan Swords (Andalusia).

“It is a war against democracy.”

The general secretary of the Andalusian PSOE pointed out that the conflict in Ukraine “is a war against democracy, which goes directly to the heart of the EU project, against the way of understanding society and the way of organizing ourselves.

That is why it must have a response like the one being given from the EU”.

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