The news had virtually no resonance when Pedro Sanchez -yawning aside- he announced during his appearance for the year’s review that the Government “is working so that Catalonia and the Basque Country are associate members of UNESCO and the World Tourism Organization” (UNWTO). But Sánchez … He briefly explained, between the new transport bonus and the increase in civil servants’ salaries, adding: “We are going to ask in the coming days that Catalonia and the Basque Country are associate members, as are many other territories in other countries.” And he developed the subject by specifying that “in the meantime, we are going to launch a request for a slightly broader status so that these territories can deploy their skills in cultural and tourist matters”.
The announcement by the President of the Government even surprised some of those supposedly interested. This is what the advisor to the Basque Autonomous Government showed yesterday, Maria Ubarretxena: “For now, what we know are his statements. “We have not received further details from the State,” said the spokesperson for the Basque Executive. For this reason, he explained that, until they receive “the texts or how the proposal is more detailed”, they will not be able to make an evaluation.
However, in the Catalan milieu of the PSC, even if they do not know the details of the project that they will now have to manage, they recall that the inclusion of Catalonia in UNESCO is one of the “unmet” requests of the government that Junts denounced and with which he justified his latest break.
It does not appear expressly among the points of the general agreement between Together and the PSOE, although it can be included in the last point, in which it commits to expanding “the direct participation of Catalonia in European institutions and other international organizations and entities”.
No external relations capacity
The truth is that there are not many cases of associated territories, and even fewer being part of Member States, with full powers. This announcement fits little with the Constitutive Act of UNESCO, according to certain experts consulted by ABC. Article 2.3 of the text which regulates the institution specifies: “Territories or groups of territories which do not have responsibility for the conduct of their international relations may be admitted as associate members by the General Conference, by a two-thirds majority. » It should be remembered that the Basque Country and Catalonia, and in particular this territory, have already transferred full powers in matters of culture and tourism and notable external action with delegations or “pseudo-embassies” distributed abroad.
“With the ‘pseudo-embassies’ and now with full powers, we must study what prevails, because the same criteria will not always prevail”
After the terrible image that Spanish cultural diplomacy gave to CILE with the aggression of the director of Cervantes against that of the RAE, here is another initiative which gives a diffuse image of the objectives of Spanish foreign culture. Among the problems that arise with this initiative, according to the experts consulted, it is necessary to evaluate the contradictions of competence: “Foreign action was initially the exclusive competence of the State, but first with the ‘pseudo-embassies’ and now with the fullness of competence, we must study what prevails, because the same criterion will not always prevail”, assures a senior official with decades of experience at UNESCO.
Another great connoisseur of the life of this international institution who has held positions there comments: “He sees no sense in this initiative, because the associated members are generally territories without any capacity in international relations, such as Curaçao or the Faroe Islands, but are never part of other states, because it is the member states that represent their territories.”
The case of Quebec
In fact, there are those who remember the case of Quebec, which is part of the Canadian delegation through which its points of view and needs are channeled internally. In 2009, Canada signed an internal agreement with the autonomous authorities of Quebec so that there would always be a Quebec member in the permanent delegation.
The Spanish delegation specialized in former culture ministers. The current ambassador is Miquel Iceta, leader of Catalan socialism who will have to shape the initiative and work hard so that the General Assembly accepts a majority of at least two thirds of the votes of the two Spanish territories which already have their voice represented in the delegation that he himself leads.
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