- Hans Weber
- November 1, 2024
An Interview with H.E. Mr. Alberto MORENO HUMET Spanish Ambassador in the Czech Republic
Prague Forum: Dear Mr. Alberto MORENO HUMET, what have been the main steps of your diplomatic career before coming to Prague?
Ambassador: My first appointment was in Angola, in 1985, I went there during the war. It was difficult; we could not travel outside the capital. However, it was a very interesting experience and I learnt a lot from it. Afterwards I have been posted in Luxembourg and Belgium. I have served in Andorra as well, which is an important place for us. They speak Catalan (which is my mother tongue), and Andorra has an important commercial exchange (around 60% of its international trade) with Spain. Andorra is peculiar in the sense that has two Heads of State, one is the President of France, and the second is the “Obispo” (Bishop) of Urgell (Catalonia). This double representation is the result of an historical compromise. My last post before coming to Prague was in Marseille.
Prague Forum: Which places have you visited in the Czech Republic?
Ambassador: I think that the nicest city in Spain is Barcelona, but I think that the nicest city in Europe is Prague. Prague is very lively, on the contrary of other large cities. I have visited almost all regions in the Czech Republic (Brno, Ostrava, Olomouc, Plzeň, České Budejovice, Zlin, Liberec, Karlovy Vary…). I like the countryside. My last visits were to Pardubice and Ústí nad Labem. I am planning to go to Hradec Kralove in January.
Prague Forum: What are your favourite places in Prague?
Ambassador: I agree with my wife: our favourite place is Mala Strana. Sure, there are many tourists everywhere but maybe Mala Strana has conserved its own Bohemian connotation. Stromovka is our favourite place for walks, even if we always end up in Mala Strana.
Prague Forum: What are the main topics in the relationships between Spain and the Czech Republic?
Ambassador: Our histories are related because we had a lot of connections during the Middle Age. Even now, the Prague Castle has a Spanish Hall. Nonetheless, there has been periods with little or no relationships. Relationships slowed down after the advent of Franco and almost disappeared after the war and during the Cold War. Our relationships restarted and now we have a trade exchange of almost 9 billion euros. The increase has been remarkable. Spanish is nowadays the third foreign language in the Czech Republic, after English and German. More and more Czechs are Spanish speakers and this is very important because there is a relevant exchange of tourists between Spain and the Czech Republic. Coming to Prague is considered very fashionable in Spain and the number of Spanish tourist is increasing even if they tend to be concentrated in Prague. Czechs on the contrary indeed tend to visit more places in Spain than just the Capital Madrid and travel across Spain when they come on holidays. We are trying to promote cultural activities, to organise joint Czech-Spanish cultural events, with the Institute Cervantes and the Embassy. We would like to organise events also out of Prague (Olomouc, Pilsen) and cooperate also with not Prague-based entities.
Prague Forum: How is the Spanish economy performing after the end of the pandemic? Which sectors are driving and where there could be some improvement?
Ambassador: It is important to highlight the difference occurred with the reaction to the crisis of 2008-2010 and the one chosen to fight against the economic consequences of the pandemic. In the first case, Spain answered with austerity policies, the result is that we went out of the crisis later than others, and inequalities increased. Indeed, the EU response to the pandemic has been oriented towards allowing deficits and loans. We have tried to support the income of people. The State has significantly invested. The result has been encouraging, unemployment is going down in Spain and economic parameters are on the rise. Spanish economy is very sensitive to cycles, crisis affects the economy badly because certain important sectors (tourism) are very dependent on cycles, but, on the other side, recoveries are very strong as well! Spain should reinforce the industrial sector in order to improve the level of stability. It would also be important to highlight how certain sectors, like for example the construction industry, are strongly linked to the tertiary sector (tourism). This renders also those sectors very dependent on tourism, which is in turn linked to cycles. There was a moment some years ago, when almost 25% of the Spanish economy was driven by the construction and tourism. We should find a better balance.
Prague Forum: How is Spain dealing with the immigration storm?
Ambassador: We have been having a problem with migration for many years, We are at the borders of Europe. We were calling this migrants cajucos, from the name of the boats they were using to reach Southern Spain or the Canary Islands. We felt that Europe was not ready to understand the hurdles that excessive unregulated migration were creating to us. Indeed, Spain is one of the doors to Europe and many migrants move to other countries like France and Germany. But many of them actually stay in Spain and, just as an example, already in 2010, there were around 500, 000 Moroccans in Catalonia. Currently, the Spanish Government has improved the dialogue and the relations with the African countries of origin of the migrants, the situation is much more under control in Spain. Italy is actually more exposed than we are, in view of the lack of controls in Libya. Migrants have nowadays many avenues to enter the EU, for example through Turkey and the Balkans. I believe that only a common EU action can bring a solution to the problem. I am very happy that during the Spanish Presidency there has been a sort of agreement in the Council of the EU. This is very good because for some time we had the impression that countries not at the border of EU did not understand the constraints that massive migration could create.
Prague Forum: How would you see the role of Spain, who has been a major military power, in the construction of a security space in Europe?
Ambassador: We are among one of the biggest countries in Europe, and because of this, we have a strong army. We went through a process of modernisation of our Armed Forces after the recovery of Democracy. In fact, Franco, despite being himself a soldier, did not really modernise the army. We are actually present in many areas of the world as peace-keepers, like Lebanon, the Baltic states. We are going to have a presence in Slovakia in the next summer. We want to be peace-keepers, reliable and endowed with a modern Army. We have a strong Navy Force. Our frigates are the best in Europe. In addition, our air force is very good. What we want is to be a reliable ally in NATO and in the European Union.
Thank you for the interview dear Mr. Alberto MORENO HUMET
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