![]() King Felipe VI has had to postpone or cancel trips to Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Japan and South Korea, while dignitaries from Argentina and Israel have placed their visits to Spain on hold. The foreign affairs report, titled “The cost of non-government,” illustrates its point with numerous examples of lost opportunities due to the absence of a fully functional executive. “And, as a medium-size power, the spaces that Spain leaves open are being quickly filled by other competing countries.” The cost of non-government “The limits on diplomatic action, the loss of profile and influence, and the slowdown in decision-making all have negative consequences for our international prestige, as well as direct material costs,” adds the report. “The continuity of the caretaker government is having increasingly serious consequences for Spain’s international projection, derived from an institutional deadlock that makes our country look like a permanent lame duck,” warns a report by the Spanish Foreign Affairs Ministry, to which EL PAÍS has had access. The cleanup of the 1966 Palomares nuclear crash is on hold due to the lack of government. These include the cleanup of the land that was contaminated in the nuclear accident over Palomares (Almería) in 1966, the creation in Rota (Cádiz) of a helicopter airbase for US narcotics and law enforcement operations, and cooperation with India on peaceful uses for nuclear energy. Other issues will not even reach the floor of Congress for approval because they are still at too early a stage of negotiations, and Spanish legislators cannot move forward until a new government has been formed. There is also the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the extension to the lease on NASA’s Deep Space Communications Station in Robledo de Chavela, the new Social Security agreement with the United States, a series of airspace deals with India, Mexico and Uzbekistan, and dual taxation covenants with Mexico, Finland and Qatar. The climate change treaty is just one of more than 40 international agreements pending ratification by the Spanish parliament. Who is going to ally themselves with a caretaker government that cannot promise anything? ![]()
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