Eduardo González
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, participated yesterday in a videoconference between her counterparts from the 27 EU Member States and the new White House Special Climate Envoy, John Kerry.
The meeting, the first between the minister and any other member of the government with a high-ranking official from Joe Biden’s new administration in the United States, took place at the initiative of the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jeppe Kofod, according to diplomatic sources. Apart from the European foreign ministers, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell; the First Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermanns; and the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and for Latin America and the Caribbean, Cristina Gallach, also took part in the videoconference, also took part in the videoconference.
The aim of the meeting was to explain to Kerry -former Secretary of State and former Democratic presidential candidate- the Danish initiative for a just transition in the coal sector, as part of the climate diplomacy strategy launched by Copenhagen with a view to the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), to be held next November in Glasgow.
“Great talking to Climate Envoy John Kerry on strengthening transatlantic cooperation on climate action and climate diplomacy”, González Laya said on his Twitter account. “With US return to the Paris Agreement, momentum is strong for COP26 Glasgow”, she added.
The Spanish government has not had any other institutional contact with the new US administration because US law does not allow it before the new posts are ratified by the Senate and the House of Representatives. This is the case of the new Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken. In the case of Kerry, the meeting was possible because he is a direct appointment by President Biden and therefore does not require ratification by both Houses of Congress.
According to the same sources, the government is awaiting ratification of the new posts in order to initiate, “as soon as possible”, the first “contacts at the highest level”. However, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has not yet been in direct contact with Joe Biden since he officially took office on 20 January, or even since he was elected in the presidential elections on 3 November. Other European leaders, such as the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, or the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, have done so, as the Europa Press agency recalled yesterday.
