[ad_1]
stable – Spanish King Felipe VI arrived in the Estonian capital of Tallinn this Sunday to begin a visit to the three Baltic countries, the first time a head of state has made an official trip abroad without an escort. The Madrid government decided to do this despite the fact that Defense Minister Margarita Robles will participate in the visit of Spanish troops to Latvia in the final act of the plan.
The main authority accompanying the King was Lieutenant General Francisco Bracco, commander of the operational command and head of the diplomatic missions abroad.
The Chief of the Defense Staff (Jemad), Admiral Teodoro López Calderón, was scheduled to fly with the monarch, but he announced last night that he was leaving due to illness, according to a source in the Royal Palace.
The visit will conclude with a statement from the Ministry of Defense announcing that Robles will take part in a visit to the Latvian military contingent, after the king’s official plane took off from Torrejon de Ardoz air base in Madrid.
The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on June 16 the official visit of the head of state to the Baltic states.
When the trip was designed in early April, the original plan was to visit the Spanish contingent deployed in the Baltic countries.
However, since 2004, the interest of the presidents of the three former Soviet republics, the EU and NATO member states in meeting with Felipe VI has broadened the objectives of the visit to include visits to the three parliaments, thus giving the visit an institutional content.
Robles informed the King’s Palace two weeks ago that he would not be able to take part in the trip, nor would Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, who was due to attend a meeting with European colleagues in Luxembourg tomorrow (Monday).
The Minister of Defense has no official events today and tomorrow she will attend an event at the Torrejón base.
In the absence of ministers, the government did not replace them with secretaries of state, as it has done on some of Felipe VI’s foreign trips, including the inauguration of Latin American leaders.
The visit was originally scheduled for this weekend, but because it coincided with the European Council in Brussels, it was rescheduled between Sunday and Tuesday the 25th to coincide with the agenda of the three presidents.
This is Don Felipe’s first foreign military mission since he visited Iraq on January 30, 2019, his 51st birthday.
This is also the play’s premiere in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, countries that gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and to which King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia made a state visit in 2009.
In Tallinn, Felipe VI received a military reception at Kadriorg Palace by Estonian President Aral Kalis, where they held a meeting to exchange impressions on bilateral relations and discuss the regional security situation in the face of Russian threats.
Felipe VI will also visit Parliament and will make his first speech at a dinner hosted by Carlisle.
During his visit, he will visit the Juan Carlos I aircraft carrier in the port of Tallinn, which, along with the frigate Blas de Lezo, takes part in NATO’s annual exercises in the Baltic Sea, where Spain, like Baltopps, has about 1,500 troops stationed.
Felipe VI will visit tomorrow the Siauliai base in Lithuania, where Spain has eight F18 fighters and an A400M transport aircraft, which are supported by about 190 soldiers who are part of the Baltic Air Police (BAP) mission, also from NATO.
On Tuesday, it will do the same at the Adazi base in Latvia, where about 650 soldiers are deployed as part of a NATO multinational battalion that is participating in the so-called “forward-deployed reinforcement” operation as a deterrent tool against Russia.
[ad_2]
Source link
