Spanish and Portuguese ministers during their meeting./ Photo: @JosepBorrellF
The Diplomat. 25/07/2018
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, received yesterday his Portuguese counterpart, Augusto Santos Silva, with whom he undertook to «fine-tune» their positions about Ibero-American affairs, in order that both countries act as a «catalyst» in the resolution of conflicts.
An example of the divergence of criteria between Madrid and Lisbon has been the policy of sanctions against Venezuela. The Portuguese Government has been more cautious in recent months when it comes to consensus in Brussels, even with the Executive of Pedro Sanchez already in power. For example, the last resolution of the Lima Group on Venezuela had the support of Spain, while Portugal did not.
Likewise, Spain and Portugal, as Pedro Sánchez and Antonio Costa advanced on July 2 in Lisbon, intend to collaborate as leftist and pro-European governments to have a role «in the redesign of the future Europe», in the face of challenges such as migration and the reform of the Economic and Monetary Union.
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Madrid and Lisbon wish to have a «proactive strategic role» when it comes to shaping the future EU
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Spain wants both countries to have a «proactive strategic role», in Borrell’s words, that does not leave the european impulse only to France and Germany in the face of misgivings from the East or now from Italy. According to the Foreign Minister, Madrid and Lisbon can contribute, from the left, to a new path for the EU.
Santos Silva traveled to Spain to prepare the next summit on energy interconnections that will be held in Lisbon on Friday by the prime ministers of both countries with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete.
The Portuguese minister took for granted the differences arising around the Almaraz nuclear power plant (Cáceres), the construction of a waste warehouse, and around the project for a uranium mine in Retortillo (Salamanca), which raised concerns about its potential impact in Portugal.
Both countries, he explained, agreed on a roadmap to exchange information accurately. Spain is complying, so that Portugal is promptly informed about everything related to Almaraz, and is also complying with the procedure designed for Retortillo.
As of 2019, both countries also will commemorate the fifth centenary of first world’s circumnavigation by the Portuguese Fernando de Magallanes and the Spaniard Juan Sebastián Elcano. The expedition left Seville captained by the Portuguese and financed by the Spanish Crown on August 10, 1519 and ended three years later, after the death of Magallanes, in Sanlúcar de Barrameda with a single ship led by Elcano.
