President Sánchez asks Spanish industry for arms and ammunition for Ukraine
President Sánchez has held an unprecedented meeting at the Moncloa Palace. It is the first time since he came to power almost six years ago that the chief executive has called together the main executives of the Spanish defence industry.
It is the immediate consequence of the emergency appeal that the leaders of Germany, France, the United States and the European Union have made through various channels to President Pedro Sánchez, asking Spain to lend a hand in the urgent delivery to Ukraine of large quantities of arms and ammunition.
The meeting chaired by Sánchez, flanked by the Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles, brought together two dozen high-ranking members of the national defence industry. It was a way of making a graphic statement and pleasing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, US President Joe Biden and Josep Borrell, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
All four have sounded the alarm about the urgency of supplying Ukrainian military forces with weapons systems, ammunition and logistical equipment as they try to halt the push by Russian armoured and infantry units. What Volodimir Zelenski is demanding are fighter aircraft, surface-to-air missile systems, long-range artillery pieces, 155 millimetre calibre shells, advanced electronic warfare systems and combat vehicles.
Pedro Sánchez's response to his NATO allies and Brussels partners has waited until the approval of the Amnesty Law in Congress, which took place on Thursday, 14 March. The businessmen were summoned five days later, on Tuesday 19 March, in two separate groups. Both groups heard from the president about the critical situation in Ukraine and the commitment of EU countries and the United States to help maintain Ukraine's independence.
Immediate reinforcement of Spanish aid to Ukraine
Moncloa confirms that Pedro Sánchez met with a dozen major manufacturers, those whose assembly lines will enable them to produce weapons systems and ammunition for Ukraine more quickly. Sánchez asked them to increase their production capacities and provide the Secretary of State for Defence with a list of weapons systems, ammunition and equipment that could be delivered to Ukraine by the middle and end of this year.
He also met with a second group, consisting of the largest companies in the aerospace, naval, space and technology sectors. The reason for the differentiation lay in the fact that the president wanted to convey to the four groups - which were joined by the associations AESMIDE and TEDAE - the need for the government to "act as a driving force" in a spirit of "certainty and commitment".
Sources close to Moncloa have specified that the president conveyed to his guests from the tractor companies his interest in focusing on "consolidating the national supply chain". He encouraged them to take part in large European projects, "betting on participating in consortiums with industries in third countries". He also asked them to "expand their production capacities" and, of course, "increase investment in research, development and innovation". And he anticipated his desire to hold meetings "at least twice a year".
After the three-way meeting, Moncloa said in a statement that the government of Pedro Sánchez is going to "immediately reinforce" Spain's aid to Ukraine, since the Spanish defence industry "is key to meeting the urgent needs of the Ukrainian army", the statement said.
Moncloa's call arose as a result of the critical situation of Kiev's defence system, which was exposed on 26 February in Paris during a conference in support of Ukraine hosted by President Macron. Together with some twenty European dignitaries and dignitaries from the United States and Canada, the Spanish president spoke in favour of increasing European industrial capacity to send arms and ammunition to Ukraine and also helping Zelenski to boost its military industry.
Towards a Ukraine-Spain security agreement
The first to take action on the matter were Scholz, Macron and Poland's new prime minister, Donald Tusk, who on 15 March agreed to obtain more arms for Ukraine through the international market, increase joint production of military equipment and ensure that the EU's European Peace Fund receives 5 billion euros to support the Kiev government.
In the framework of national foreign policy, the Moncloa communiqué of 19 March reiterated that Spain 'is already negotiating an agreement on security commitments with Ukraine'. The announcement of such an agreement was announced two weeks earlier, on 4 March, by Zelenski's government and confirmed the following day by the Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares. The official communiqué indicates that the Madrid government 'follows in the footsteps of other countries that have already signed bilateral security agreements with Ukraine, including Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Denmark and Canada'.
President Sánchez's meeting with the top leaders of the Spanish defence industry took place on the same date as the 20th meeting in Rammstein (Germany) of the so-called Ukraine Defence Contact Group, which is led by the United States and involves more than 40 nations. And it came four days after a phone call from the US Secretary of Defence, General Lloyd Austin, to the Spanish Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles.
President Sánchez's meeting with defence manufacturers was attended by the heads of Arquimea Group (Diego Fernández); Escribano Mechanical & Engineering (Ángel Escribano); Fábrica de Municiones de Granada (Antonio Caro); Fecsa (Carlos de Cos); General Dynamics European Land Sytems/Santa Bárbara (Juan Antonio Escriña); Instalaza (Miguel Muñoz); Nammo Palencia (Antonio Llamas); NTGS (Juan Carlos Estrella); Oesia/Tecnobit (Luis Furnells); Rheinmetall/Expal (Admiral José Luis Urcelay); SAES (Joaquín López); and Urovesa (Justo Sierra).
The meeting with the tractor companies was attended by senior executives from Aciturri (María Eugenia Clemente); Aernnova (Juan Ignacio López Gandásegui); Airbus España (Alberto Gutiérrez); GMV (Jesús Serrano); Hisdesat (Admiral Santiago Bolibar); Indra (José Vicente de los Mozos, accompanied by Marc Murtra, the company's non-executive chairman); ITP Aero (Carlos Alzola); Navantia (Ricardo Domínguez); Sapa (Jokin Aperribay); and Sener (Andrés Sendagorta).
The aforementioned heads of Escribano, General Dynamics, Oesia/Tecnobit and Urovesa, together with the presidents of the Association of Public Administration Contractors (AESMIDE) and the Spanish Association of Defence, Security, Aeronautics and Space Technology Companies (TEDAE), Gerardo Sánchez Revenga and Ricardo Martí Fluxá, respectively, joined the aforementioned group.