The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, chaired on Monday in the City of Granada the preparatory and coordination meeting for the design of the security device that will give protection to the celebration of the European Council that will preside over Spain on October 5 and 6 in this Andalusian city.
At the meeting, the attendees have set the general lines of the deployment of the State Security Forces and Bodies that must ensure the development of the European event, which will gather on October 5 a summit of European leaders and, the next day, will hold an informal European Council that will be chaired by the head of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.
The meeting has also served to establish the guidelines for the protection of the members of the different European delegations that will attend the heads of State and Government participating in the summit, as well as their companions, who will have a program of activities alternative to the official one.
In addition, the meeting studied the reinforcement of the police devices of the airports of Granada and Malaga, where the different delegations will land; the protection of the travel routes of the official committees, and the different hotels in which the attendees will be accommodated.
MEETING ATTENDEES
At the meeting, the Minister of the Interior was accompanied by the Secretary of State for Security, Rafael Pérez; the Director General of Coordination and Studies of the department, Jose Antonio Rodríguez; and the Head of the Area of Citizen Security and Operations of the Secretary of State for Security, Carlos Meca.
The Secretary General of the department, Judit Alexandra González, attended the Presidency of the Government; the Director of the Coordination Office for the Spanish Presidency of the European Union, Aurora Mejía; and the Director of the Security Department of the Presidency of the Government, the Chief Commissioner, María Marcos.
The mayor of Granada, Francisco Cuenca, hosted the meeting, in which the government delegate in Andalusia, Pedro Fernández, and the subdelegate in Granada, Inmaculada López, also participated.
The National Police has been represented by the General Commissioner for Citizen Security, Principal Commissioner Juan Carlos Castro; the Superior Chief of Police in Eastern Andalusia, Principal Commissioner Jose Miguel Amaya; and the Head of the Central Protection Unit of the General Commissariat of Citizen Security, Principal Commissioner Sinforiano Rabanal.
On behalf of the Civil Guard, statements were made by the Chief of Staff, General Fernando Mora; the Chief of Operations of the General Staff, Colonel Juan Carretero; and the Chief of Operations of the Traffic Group, Colonel Rafael Aparicio.
The meeting was also attended by the Superintendent of the Local Police of Granada, José Antonio Moreno, and, representing the General Staff of the Operations Command of the Ministry of Defense, Brigadier General Carlos Prada Larrea, and Lieutenant Colonel Juan Carlos Domínguez.
SPECIFIC SECURITY PLAN
At the meeting held on Monday, the Secretary of State for Security gave an account of Instruction 2/2023, signed by him on March 23, which launched the Special Security Plan on the occasion of the Spanish Presidency of the European Union, which established the general guidelines for the coordination of the National Police and Civil Guard and the collaboration with them of local police and, where appropriate, other regional police forces and which has already been activated in its preventive phase since April 15.
From now on, and coordinated by the Secretary of State for Security, the heads of the State Security Forces and Corps will draw up a Specific Operational Security Plan for the European summit next October in Granda.
This Specific Operational Plan, in accordance with the guidelines established in Instruction 2/2023, will have a Preventive Phase, which will be activated with the necessary advance for its proper planning; an Alert Phase, which will be activated on October 1, and a Critical Phase that will enter into force 24 hours before the start of the European summit.
In the police deployment of protection to the celebration of the European Council, the Local Police of Granada will also participate, whose personnel, among other tasks, will take care of the urban displacement of the official caravans and will give protection to many of the public spaces of Granada that will host official or alternative acts linked to the development of the European summit.