Spanish Foreign Minister tells Euronews 'fundamental rights of people' at stake in snap election

The U.S. has lifted sanctions on Russian diesel and the president of the United States has lashed once again at President Zelensky saying he does not seem to want a deal. Maybe Ukraine needs a new leader. To that point, what do you believe has triggered this? Only President Trump can answer to that question. And what's important for us, for Europeans, is how we can advance peace, a real peace, a genuine peace that will preserve the sovereignty of Ukraine, that will guarantee security for the Ukrainians and for the Europeans. That's the real question. And we will only get that by backing President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people. But who is going to do it? What package? And who pays? Unity will do it. European unity and showing that we are going to continue backing Ukraine as we have done it until now. First, they said, without the Americans, it's impossible that you can support Ukraine. And today, we are showing that we are the real supporters, the main supporters, also when it comes to finance or when it comes to military equipment. I have been very clear since the very beginning. I think we should use frozen assets. I've been since the very first day advocating for it, why we should put our taxpayer money when there is a frozen asset, and we know that there will have to be reparations at the end of the war. And to that point, this is a critical issue. Do you believe that the prime minister of Spain, therefore, on Thursday will put on the table again the issue of the Russian frozen assets? We have been consistent with that policy and with many other countries. We have been always advocating for the use of frozen assets. It looks like this is going to be a very difficult winter and Ukraine clearly is running out of air defense. Once again, will Spain provide some of the Patriot systems that you have in Spain to the Ukrainians? I never disclose what we are giving or not to Ukraine. This is a war and we have to keep the capabilities, you know, with discretion. But I can guarantee you that we have done as much as we can every time and we will continue to do it. OK, so you seem to indicate there's something maybe behind the scenes. Let's talk about Spain. The campaign officially will start very soon. This was a real surprise. The polls will indicate, well, you're not going to be back in government, so why do this now? There is only one poll that is really worth to see. It's the date of the vote. That's the only one. All the others, they say many, many things. I've been in many campaigns. I've seen many elections in which the polls said one thing and the result said something else. The reality is this is a government that has put Spain at the highest growth of the most developed countries in the world. It's a government that has protected the rights of everyone, increasing minimum wage, historically increasing pension rights, increasing scholarship. And when it comes to the real problem of today in Spain, housing, we want to give them the same protection and the same opportunity. And we put a decree to the Congress, and the forces that come from the right and the extreme right, they defeated. So the president decided to ask the Spaniards for a clarification. They want that type of Spain run by the extreme right and a reactionary coalition that really don't care about the rights of the people, or they preferred the current government that has put Spain at the highest economic growth and always protects the right of the people. It's up to them to decide. But your critics would say, when you talk specifically about the housing, you have been in government for eight years. If there was a problem, there was plenty of time to fix it. And this issue is being weaponized. With what credibility do you defend this line? With a guarantee that we do what we say, that we have been for eight years increasing all the rights of the people when it comes, once again, to increasing the minimum wage at a historical level, increasing pension rights that were frozen, increasing scholarship, putting all the funding for public health and public education. We will do the same with housing, and because we tried to do it with the Congress, and they didn't want it. We need more strength in the Congress, and that's the clarification that the president has asked for. If they prefer to go back a reactionary coalition with a very strong... You keep saying there's a very reactionary coalition and a very extreme right. But what makes you believe this is going to be an extreme right that is going to undo years of democracy? You would think Spain is a strong enough democracy to not be undone by an election. PP doesn't need anyone, it's true, to undo anything. They did it in previous times. They cut all type of social expenditure. But this time, it's sure that if they have the possibility, they will do that government history right, as they've been doing in all autonomous communities, in all the regions in which they had the possibility. And we see how they behave, those type of coalitions, when they get power in Europe. It's always a reduction of rights. It's never on the benefit of the people. But just help me understand. You say this government does take hold. There is a risk, because this is a very serious thing to say, there is a risk to the Spanish democracy. There is a risk for the rights of the people, for all their social rights, for the pension rights, for the public education and the public health. And at the same time, extreme right is always connected with forces abroad, European Union, that try to divide us, that try to divide Spaniards and Europeans to make us weaker and to weaken our democracy. And who are these forces? Are you saying Russia is behind? Who is paying? Who are these forces? Well, we know very well that Russian disinformation always plays a role. They want Europe to be divided, but there are different forces around the world that come from different... I'm the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain. Are you thinking Israel, perhaps? Many of them, many of them try to divide Europe because a Europe that is divided is a Europe that is weak. What are your European colleagues then telling you? Because I hear many Brussels who say it's a natural shift. Europe is turning to the right. European Union is totally incompatible with extreme right. Actually, European Union was built against those types of extreme ideologies. Because Europe is about equality, rights, tolerance. That's what has given the prosperity and the stability of Europe. If that disappears, the European project, as we know it today, will disappear. Vox, I see, seems to be doing very well in polls, and they seem to have capitalized on the question of migration and certainly the crisis that we've seen play out in Ceuta, which is still not resolved. There's major operational difficulties to simply return some of the illegal migrants who enter the territory. First, do you believe you could have done things differently? And when do you see a resolution to this matter, which is still playing out on the ground? Most of the people that went into Ceuta illegally are already back. But many are still there. They are still there, but most of them have gone back. And we will continue working as we have done it today until Ceuta recovers total normality. And at the same time, when you look at the overall figures in Europe of irregular entrance in Europe and you compare it with the entrance through Spain, you see that we have the best results in the whole Mediterranean. Italy, for instance, has double what we have. So that shows that we know how to handle that phenomenon. The Italians would say our border has never been compromised, like the pictures that we saw back in July. But in order to fix this, if you are re-elected and you extend another term as foreign minister, Or will you say we need to revisit our policy with Morocco? We have borders, land borders with Africa, which is a real challenge, not comparable with any other border. And those borders are the borders of Spain and the borders of European Union. That's why we are bringing a whole package to make sure that the presence of the European Union, of the instruments, are stronger. We are giving a permanent seat to Ceuta and Melilla in the committee of the region. We are putting them in the Customs Union with their specificity. We are establishing a permanent institutional presence of Frontex in both Ceuta and Melilla and creating a financial package that will give the same importance to the land borders of the East of Europe, to the South of Europe. But just a final point on this, because it is a key point. When it comes to Morocco, would you say if we have to revisit our policy, if we have to put uncomfortable issues on the table, we will do it because Spain is a sovereign country and this is our right to do it? We want to have a good relation with Morocco based on the respect of sovereignty, of territorial integrity and the principles that we agreed in 2022.