Speeches by President of the Government in video-conference with Spanish units on humanitarian and peace missions overseas

-- FIRST SPEECH --

A very good day to you all.

Each 24 December since I became the President of the Government, I have had the honour of wishing you a Merry Christmas from Spain. Since then, I have visited you on your various deployments and better understood the work you perform, your vocation to serve and the family sacrifices demanded by your profession. Five years on and I can say that what I see on the other side of the screen is now more familiar to me and I have a keener understanding of it; what I can see are compatriots and soldiers serving Spain.

I want to begin today by taking stock of what are some truly admirable results. Few countries can lay claim to having their armed forces deployed on five continents, maintaining naval operations from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and air operations in skies as far afield as over the Baltic countries and Gabon. This balance of operations obviously includes helping unstable areas such as the Sahel to return to normality, clearing large swathes of the Indian Ocean of pirates, ensuring that NATO's allies now feel safer and, above all, ensuring that Spain and the Spanish people feel better protected.

Whilst all this is important, I believe that the true added value of the work that you carry out on each mission is the way in which you integrate in the societies of each zone you operate, how the children that learn Spanish in the south of Lebanon perceive your presence, the refugees that are rescued in the Central Mediterranean or the thousands of soldiers who are trained each day to fight terrorism. The numbers speak for themselves; more than 8,400 immigrants rescued by our vessels, more than 450 vessels spotted from our aircraft and the training of close on 17,000 Iraqi personnel.

You are a fundamental value for Spain's foreign action and an example to all our citizens. I am personally very proud of our armed forces.

This year, I greet, for the first time, the group of military observers that are deployed in Colombia, a country devastated by years of warfare where Spain is committed to the peace process. I am convinced that your work will help bring an end to the violence in this country that is our sister nation.

Against a backdrop of uncertain security, our goals will continue to be in fragile countries, helping them to build their own defences; in the Mediterranean, combating the mafias that traffic in human beings, protecting our partners and allies on Europe's external borders, and helping combat terrorism anywhere that national interests or those of the international community are affected. That is why I want you to feel the backing of my government and of the whole of Spanish society; that you feel this when you board your frigate prior to setting sail, when your plane takes off or when you hand over a unit to the Malian or Iraqi authorities, because your efforts are key to our security.

Those who wait for you back here Spain, must do so knowing that the ultimate sense of your mission lies here, in Spain. I wish to recall those family members here today, I know that they are listening, that they are attentive to any news coming from the theatres of operations and that they wait each day for a phone call from a family member deployed in Besmayah, in Catania or in Dakar, to name just a few of the places where the Spanish flag flies. My last message goes out to them as well, a message that I have been repeating for five years now and that can be summed up in seeing you return home and recalling that your mission does not end until you are back in Spain - safe and sound. I hope that each one of you enjoys this night wherever you may be deployed and I wish you a Merry Christmas together with your comrades-in-arms and that your mission comes to a successful conclusion.

Merry Christmas to you all and thank you very much for being out there.

-- SECOND SPEECH --

In my own name, and on behalf of the Minister for Defence and the Chief of the Defence Staff, I wish to thank you once again for your efforts, for your dedication and for serving the general interest of all the Spanish people and human beings that live in other parts of the world. At the same time, I want you to know that you have all the support, the backing, affection and warmth of the whole of Spanish society.

I hope you all have a good evening and I wish you a Merry Christmas.

Thank you very much.