The Diplomat
Pedro Sánchez will tour Cyprus, Malta and Italy after his return from his trip to China, scheduled for later this week. Specifically, the President of the Government will be on the two islands on 4 April, and in Italy on 5 April.
The tour is part of the trips that the head of the Spanish government is making to different European capitals to prepare for the six-month Spanish Presidency of the European Council, which will begin on 1 July.
Sánchez is scheduled to arrive in Nicosia on Tuesday morning, where he will be received by the new President of Cyprus, the conservative Nikos Christodoulides, who took office a month ago after winning the country’s presidential elections.
In the afternoon, the head of government will travel to Valletta, where he will meet with the Prime Minister of Malta, Robert Abela, who is also the leader of the Labour Party.
Finally, Sánchez will be in Rome on Wednesday to meet with the President of the Italian Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, in what will be their first bilateral meeting, beyond the greetings they have exchanged at European Council meetings.
Sánchez congratulated Giorgia Meloni after her victory in last October’s elections, and they held a telephone conversation at the beginning of November. On 9 December, the Italian head of government was scheduled to travel to Alicante to take part in the Euro-Mediterranean Summit and meet Sánchez, but in the end she cancelled her visit due to the flu.
In recent weeks, the Prime Minister has travelled to Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Ireland, Denmark and Finland, where he has met with his counterparts. His last meeting was in Brussels, where he met with Alexander de Croo, the prime minister of Belgium, the country that will succeed Spain in the rotating EU presidency.
