“Sanchez has ratified Spain’s support for Ukraine and has called the defence sector to be key in the European Industrial Defence Strategy,” the Government of Spain’s website said in its line. According to the news, Sánchez thanked the representatives of the arms industry and recognized its importance: “The Head of Government has thanked the managers of the defense industry companies for their commitment in a very complex geopolitical context, in which Spain is working to prepare for security threats and increase the level of strategic autonomy.”

Politicians and entrepreneurs talked about the intentions and challenges of the near future. They want to multiply the business: “Spain wants to make the sector a key player in the European Industrial Defence Strategy, presented a few days ago”. To this end, they envisaged, inter alia, increasing “leadership”, boosting R & D or increasing jobs in European military programmes. According to the information provided by the Government in the news, the Spanish State is the fourth European exporter in the armero sector, the eighth global, with 36,000 employees.

At the Summit there were 24 people from 23 companies, all men except Maria Eugenia Clemente from Aciturri. Moncloa shared four photos of the meeting, all but one from a group, in which Clemente appeared giving his hand to Sánchez in the foreground.

The Basque trade in death also in Moncloa

The meeting of Moncloa was attended by the heads of the military industry of Hego Euskal Herria: the president of Aernnova, Juan Ignacio López Gandasegui; the president of SAPA, Jokin Aperribay; the president of ITP Aeroko, Carlos Azola; and the president of SENER, Andrés Sendagorta. ARGIA asked the anti-militarist group to comment on the significance of the public dimension of the session, which was public but limited, as there was hardly any means of communication. Vitoria-Gasteiz has confirmed that the image of March 18 is not common, “the merchants of death no longer hide, not even the Basques,” and has surprised with the following hypothesis:

“If it was a Moncloa initiative, in search of electoral benefits, the top bosses of these companies did not come to the meeting and took a picture. And Moncloa, the owner of the images, would open much more than he has done. It is more logical to think that these merchants of death have imposed images so that the institutionality of the scene, for the place and character, helps to clean the image of those who do business with wars.”

For its part, Vitoria-Gasteiz has highlighted the atmosphere of “friendship and trust” among the Basque representatives who show the images. “This friendship denounces that the relations between them are much more frequent than what they publicly show.” With the political support given to the arms entrepreneurs, they have recalled that it is common in Euskal Herria: “The different presidents have ‘posed’ with these characters.” This political support “drives” an increasingly serious reality: “The number of companies in Hego Euskal Herria participating in the military industry in the last ten years has multiplied in a very worrying way, already more than 200”.

Deepening war and militarism

Meanwhile, Moncloa’s photo has been in the midst of a proliferation of militaristic messages from the Western authorities. The leaders of NATO or the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, have taken for granted on several occasions, such as the direct war between Russia and the European Union in the medium term, to which they have called for the reinforcement of militarism and military spending. French and German governments are talking about the possibility of re-establishing compulsory military service. “The threat of war is total and society is not entirely conscious,” said Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles, the day before meeting with military industry leaders in Moncloa.

Moncloa’s photography makes it possible that messages and policies that until recently would not be acceptable are becoming acceptable. “It’s becoming increasingly clear: the wars start here and the wars in the photo are the ones that are enriched with them,” Vitoria’s anti-militarist group rounded off.