Among legal colleagues, we have been joking for some time that some legal figures that we studied in law school as something purely theoretical have become institutions of unquestionable relevance over the years. At the national level, I honestly never imagined that I would experience the application of article 155 of our Spanish Constitution in Catalonia; that a motion of censure would be verified against a president of the Government, or that a pathogen would lead to the approval of a state of alarm with movement limitation in the entire population. In identical terms, at the supranational level, it was difficult to think that at the gates of Europe - a rabid scenario of “remote” wars and barbarities - a battle would be fought that would highlight the need to address a joint security strategy in the European Union.
Putin's war of invasion against Ukraine and - in the most cruel present - the conflict between Israel and Hamas have highlighted the urgency of strengthening the defensive seams of the borders of the European Union, added to the feeling that European democracies suffer the threat of being questioned and attacked in the face of the risk of escalation of combat in our territories.
Faced with the current international panorama, we are witnessing a ruthless and bloody scene every day in which we can carry out the perforation of the most basic rights, called by international law, in general, and by international humanitarian law, in particular, the rights of the first generation. With an astonished and disconcerted look at the threat that exogenous risks could shake our state of well-being, security and freedom. Ultimately, our value system.
While everything is happening, the European Union responds, but in a questionable way, full of divergences. Thus, the declarations of the European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Oliver Várhalyi in relation to the suspension of humanitarian aid to Palestine have had to be denied; Úrsula Von der Leyen, expressed the EU's absolute support for Israel, a position that she had to qualify to support Israel's right to defend itself if it fully complies with International Humanitarian Law. While, at the same time, it announces that it will triple humanitarian aid to Gaza, going from 25 million to 75 million euros.
Despite the situation described, the European Union, in an exercise of unity and coherence, approves in the European Parliament a Resolution dated October 19 by virtue of which it condemns the infamous terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel while expressing great concern about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.
Thus, the Granada summit, held on October 5 and 6, has shown the image of leadership of the rotating presidency of the Council, which is currently held by the Kingdom of Spain. In a vibrant and beautiful city that houses the purest legacy of the Nasrid Kingdom and where I have had the great luck of being able to train and grow, a Declaration was adopted with a clear message: Security and Defense in the EU is a reality put in the drawer that requires dialogue and unity of the 27 member states to build a stronger and more cohesive Europe.
In this convulsive context, the scenario posed by our neighborhood is still a wake-up call for the European Union to wake up and mature quickly. The current situation reveals a clear inability to lead in its capacity as a geopolitical actor. Some ingredients that make up an unbelievable recipe and lack of an authentic Common Security and Defense Policy.
A Europe is needed that reopens the debate, painful and of undoubted indigestion, but so necessary and urgent, of a common and coherent defense. Well, it would be a true political, economic and social suicide not to prepare its societies - leaders without equal in values, freedoms, rights and peace - for the panorama that the international community is experiencing.
War is still possible and the dubious weight in Europe's external sphere is to be used without delay in providing itself with a true defensive architecture that provides its societies and institutions with a mechanism for survival and response to the eventual threatening drift presented by the international sphere.
From a privileged place we have the responsibility to unite and fight for the rights conquered and thus prevent them from no longer being guaranteed one day.
