Gonzalez Laya will not be running for the leadership of the WTO because of her "commitment to Spain"

"I am not aware that a candidacy has been submitted on my name, I am committed to my country and to the direction of the EU's foreign policy and my country's development cooperation, that is where I am putting my heart into it". With these words, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union, and Cooperation rejected the information that placed her as a candidate to lead the World Trade Organization (WTO), during an informative breakfast organized by Europa Press.

Gonzalez Laya's name has been on the polls for some time to lead the organization because of her long time as a collaborator of Pascal Lamy, who was director between 2005 and 2013 and her subsequent experience at the International Trade Center (ITC), a joint agency of the WTO and the UN.
The next replacement was not scheduled until 2021 but Brazilian Roberto Azevedo has moved up a year and his successor candidates have had to take the step in the last month.

The head of the foreign affairs department wants to "contribute to multilateralism from Spain" and from her government. According to her, this is due to a "very personal decision", because she arrived in Spain on 14 January after 20 years abroad and has the "illusion of contributing to trade multilateralism and multilateralism in general from Spain".

In any case, the minister made clear her commitment to the multilateral system and "today, more multilateralism and less national sovereignty is the guarantee of better protection for citizens", even if this means going "against the trend" of what other states are doing. "Let's not get carried away by siren songs", she said.

As part of this defence of the multilateral system, she said she would strengthen the WHO, which today has " very little sovereignty " because its members have not yet decided to give it more capacities, but it should have them in order to be more prepared for future pandemics. On Tuesday it became known that the United States has officially withdrawn from the UN health agency, which will mean a budget cut of almost 15%. 

She also announced that Foreign Affairs has promoted "a high-level panel" to try to better understand the impact of technology and thus rethink the multilateral system, according to Europa Press.