Costa News Spain Breaking News | English News in Spain.
Monday, March 3, 2025 at 12:29Updated 12h34h.
King Felipe VI has reiterated his support for Ukraine and the “territorial Integrity” of Ukraine’s land and people. Since the Russian invasion began three years ago, the monarch has been loyal to President VolodymyrZelenskyy. He expressed this in his speech on Sunday at the Mobile World Congress.
The king made the statement as a result of the tense encounter between Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House and Donald Trump only 48 hours earlier.
Spain’s PM, Pedro Sánchez, was not present at the MWC dinner as he was at the summit of European leaders in London, where the attending countries doubled down their support for Ukraine. Government ministers Óscar López and Jordi Hereu attended on his behalf. Teresa Ribera and Salvador Illa were also in attendance. Illa was the first to greet King Felipe at the entrance of the event, unlike his predecessors. It had been many years since a Generalitat President welcomed the Monarchy and still addressed the Catalan issue.
Illa, since becoming the head of Generalitat in 2006, has been working to rebuild relations with all institutions of state. After taking office, he was welcomed by the King in the Zarzuela and participated in the 12-O celebrations and Constitution Day. His desire to bring political normalisation back to Catalonia after the decade of the ‘procés’ has earned him criticism from his ERC (Republican Left of Catalonia) partners. The independence movement had criticised him for wanting a harmonious relationship between the Socialist and the head of state. Contrary Illa, Josep Rull, from the Junts, the leader of Catalonia’s parliament, did not greet the king during the MWC dinner. This year, unlike previous years, there were no protests against Felipe VI.
In line with the MWC slogan “Converge. Connect. Create”, King Felipe VI urged “to work towards common goals: improving the Spanish Economy and consolidating both our performance as an attractive, stable market as well as a faithful partner in Europe and throughout the world”. He praised Spain’s technological and communication advances, while also warning against the misuse of artificial intelligence. The monarch said that the key to success would be finding a balance between innovation, and regulation.
