The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, began yesterday in Brussels a round of contacts with members of the European Commission to prepare the Spanish Presidency of the EU, which will take place in the second half of 2023.
Albares was received yesterday by the European Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, and by the European Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, with whom he later participated in a dialogue organized by the Elcano Royal Institute at the Spanish Embassy in Belgium. “This afternoon in Brussels I have held working meetings with Commissioners Jutta Urpilainen and Valdis Dombrovskis. With them, I start a round of contacts with European commissioners for the preparation of our EU Presidency,” the minister announced through his Twitter account. In addition, Albares will receive today in Madrid the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, at the ministerial headquarters of the Palacio de Viana.
During his act with Dombrovskis, José Manuel Albares stated that, “in nine months, Spain will hold the Presidency of the EU Council” and, in this framework, “Spain is ready to play its role to help the EU manage a volatile period for Europe,” he continued. “Spain wants to contribute to building the EU of the future,” he assured.
“Unity has marked the European response” to major crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine, and “this unity will be maintained during the Spanish Presidency of the Council,” continued Albares, who reported on the main objectives of the Spanish European Semester: strategic autonomy, the European Health Union, social rights, territorial cohesion and the green agenda.
For his part, Valdis Dombrovskis recalled that the war in Ukraine, in addition to “enormous human suffering”, is causing “havoc in the energy markets and driving inflation to historic highs”, and, therefore, “the coming months will be difficult, even more so now that Russia has decided to close Nord Stream 1 indefinitely”. The Commissioner therefore highlighted the Commission’s “emergency proposals for energy markets”, which “will help reduce electricity prices for consumers and generate revenues for governments to help vulnerable households”, and are “a first step in the broader review of the functioning of energy markets that is being prepared”. “Spain has played an important role in drawing attention to the importance of market design from the outset,” he stressed.
The Commissioner also stressed in his speech the need to look “beyond Europe”, because “another lesson from the Russian aggression is that joining forces with friends and partners around the world is more important than ever”, and stated that “Latin America, in particular, represents an excellent opportunity for the EU”. “It is a region where Spain’s long and positive relationship will be of great value, especially during the Spanish Presidency of the EU in the second half of 2023. It will be then that we will host the leaders of the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean at the EU-CELAC Summit,” he added.
