Politics

King Felipe VI of Spain warns of world order ‘fragility’

Washington, Dec 2 (EFE).- Spanish King Felipe VI Friday warned of the “fragility” of the world order, emphasizing the importance of developing economic models that promote equality and social justice.

Felipe VI spoke during a dinner to commemorate the centennial of Georgetown University’s Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) program.

The king returned to the institute 27 years after he graduated with a master’s degree in International Relations.

Accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Nadia Calviño, the monarch was received by the university’s president, John J. DeGioia.

The king, who is an honorary member of the MSFS Board of Advisors, was chosen to be the keynote speaker at Friday night’s gala dinner marking the MSFS centennial.

The monarch stated that the world was entering a period of tremendous changes in the international order on a scale not witnessed in the previous 30 years.

He mentioned the prevailing strong “interdependence” and “fragility” as features of the world system.

“We are all interconnected in unprecedented ways,” the king stated, warning that the interdependence might be “undone” at times due to events such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

He noted that sanctions on Russia in reaction to its “illegal and unjustified invasion” had resulted in the “undoing of 30 years of steady economic integration.”

He projected that at the end of the conflict, Russia’s economic, political, and cultural interactions with the rest of the world, notably the European Union and the United States, would be “a fraction of what they were before.”

He emphasized the “fragility” of the present moment and urged international leaders to struggle for equality and social justice.

He stated it was impossible to comprehend the degree of polarization in the Western world without understanding the social tensions, stressing the “urgent need” to establish economic models that “better” the lives of “everyone.”

“Domestic instability has worldwide ramifications,” the monarch told a crowd of more than 300 people, including professors and Georgetown graduates.

He stated that the line between national and global issues was “thinning.”

He urged instilling in international relations students a desire to know and appreciate “others’ issues” and be “empathic.”

It would not only produce “better leaders, but also better intellectuals because they would view the world through the eyes of others,” according to Felipe VI, and might help to “learn, grow, converge, and negotiate to escape the zero-sum game.”

“It may appear utopian, but it is worth a shot,” the monarch added.

He ran across several of his degree classmates, including former Icelandic minister Ragga Arnadóttir, now the OECD’s Director of Development.

The monarch stated his hope that students will leave university with a “strong feeling of public duty,” not necessarily to work in government, but to consider the greater good and address global shared concerns.

“We need big doses of that in the world today,” he said.

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