Former Spanish Minister: Recognizing Kosovo would represent a precedent for Catalonia

Former Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo warned that recognizing Kosovo as a state would represent a "very complicated and serious" precedent for Spain due to Catalonia and its hypothetical declaration of independence.

In an interview for a podcast on the Spanish portal Cope, Margallo stated that Madrid accepting Kosovo passports as valid did not imply recognition of the state, but he expressed the belief that it was "clearly a decisive step" towards it.

He criticized the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Albares, for inconsistency, as his position had been that not recognizing Kosovo meant not recognizing their passports either.

"Now he says that passports can be recognized, but that does not mean recognizing the state. A contradiction that is hard to understand", Margallo noted.

He recalled that Spain had recognized six federative republics that made up the former Yugoslavia because their right to secession had been recognized by the constitution, but not the provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo.

"Recognizing Kosovo means violating that principle and thus creating a very complicated and very serious precedent concerning Catalonia", Margallo warned, emphasizing that the Catalan issue was the most serious one Spain faced.

He added that Spanish foreign policy was "very difficult to understand and is not autonomous" because, as he said, it depended on the pressures and blackmail of partners in Pedro Sanchez's Government.

"If there is something that must characterize foreign policy, it is to be a clear, transparent, fair policy that lasts over time. All consensuses have been broken here, politics have been shattered in the Sahara and Kosovo, it will be in Gibraltar...", Margallo assessed.

He emphasized that international law was Spain's best defense.

"International law says that unilateral secessions cannot be recognized, that unilateral referendums are not a source of law... We all recognize that", Margallo emphasized.

Regarding Israel and Palestine, he stated that his position was that the final solution to the Gaza conflict was a two-state division as long as Israel's security was guaranteed.