The Diplomat
Yesterday, during his meeting with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, Pedro Sánchez reviewed the priorities of the Spanish Presidency of the EU. According to La Moncloa, these include reindustrialisation, ecological transition, social justice and the unity of the EU-27.
Sánchez received Michel in Madrid twenty-four hours before the College of European Commissioners, headed by its president, Ursula von der Leyen, also travelled to the Spanish capital. A meeting was scheduled for 7 July, but it was decided to bring it forward to avoid it coinciding with the start of the election campaign in Spain.
In an institutional declaration at the end of his meeting with Michel yesterday, the Spanish Prime Minister stressed his desire for this six-month presidency to be one of the stages of great progress “that Europe needs”. “Key decisions are going to be taken for the present and for the future of Europe and, I would say, of the world,” he said.
The head of the Executive reiterated the support, not only symbolic but with “concrete measures”, of the EU-27 for the Ukrainian people, and added that Spain will work “hard” to ensure that progress is made on all fronts.
During his statement, which was not open to questions from the media, Sánchez said that he would promote those measures that would allow “fairer taxation” to be established for large fortunes and multinationals, with the aim that “they should pay taxes like the rest of the citizens and companies”.
Finally, he defended the strengthening of European unity around common values that “today are more threatened than ever”, in relation to the war against Ukraine.
For his part, Michel highlighted Spain’s role as a “leading” country in tackling problems such as the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis. “I have no doubt that they are going to rise to the occasion”, said Michel, for whom the priorities of this presidency “are on the same wavelength as what is in the interests of EU citizens”.
