Eduardo González
Starting this Wednesday, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, faces his last big week at the head of the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union, with an appearance before the European Parliament to take stock of the Spanish semester and a European Council important for the enlargement process and the next Multiannual Financial Framework.
Sánchez will appear this Wednesday before the plenary session of the European Parliament to summarize the results of the six months of Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU, as reported by the European Parliament Office in Spain in a press release. The president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, and Pedro Sánchez will hold a meeting before the debate in plenary. MEPs will present their demands and expectations for the European Council on December 14 and 15 in a debate with the Spanish Presidency of the Council and the Commission.
The Spanish Presidency set as priorities the reindustrialization of the EU and strategic autonomy, the ecological transition and environmental adaptation, the promotion of social and economic justice and the reinforcement of European unity. At the end of October, Pedro Sánchez stated at the EU Tripartite Social Summit – attended by the President of the Commission, Úrsula von der Leyen; and the president of the European Council, Charles Michel – that the balance of the Spanish Presidency was being “positive in many areas.”
Pedro Sánchez will also make his debut in the European arena after his recent renewal as head of the Executive, after obtaining the necessary support in the investiture debate. Since the beginning of September, half a dozen Government ministers have appeared before the European Parliament to present the priorities of the Spanish Presidency. In one of these appearances, the Minister of Foreign Affairs (then acting), José Manuel Albares, assured that the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU is especially interested in activating debates on the reforms of the European treaties in view of a Europe of 30 members that “is no longer hypothetical.”
European Council
The enlargement will be, precisely, one of the strong points of Pedro Sánchez’s next European meeting, the European Council on December 14 and 15, 2023, which will take place in Brussels and will be the last of the Spanish Presidency.
According to the provisional agenda, EU leaders will address the latest developments in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine (and the increase in military aid to Kyiv will be addressed) and the situation in the Middle East, take stock of progress in the implementation of their previous conclusions on security and defense and will address, depending on events, other specific foreign policy issues.
Pedro Sánchez and three other EU prime ministers (Belgium’s Alexander de Croo, Ireland’s Leo Varadkar and Malta’s Robert Abela) yesterday sent a letter to European Council President Charles Michel calling for a “serious debate” at European Council with the aim of agreeing “a clear and common position” of EU-27 on the Gaza conflict. Both Sánchez and his Belgian and Irish colleagues provoked protests a few weeks ago from the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu for their positions in the war with Hamas, in the case of the President of the Spanish Government and Alexander de Croo for his statements critical of Israel in the Rafah border crossing and in that of Leo Varadkar, for referring to the release of a woman of dual Irish and Israeli nationality, saying that she was missing, instead of kidnapped.
In any case, the two highlights of the meeting will be the EU enlargement policy and the proposal to review the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 with the aim of reaching an agreement. Regarding the first point, this week’s European Council will address the next steps for the accession of Ukraine and Moldova to the EU and will analyze the reform agenda of the candidate countries and the recommendations of the European Commission. It will also discuss the Stabilization and Association Process (SAP), the EU policy to prepare the Western Balkan countries for their future accession to the Union.
The Granada Declaration, approved on October 6 by the heads of State and Government of the EU during their informal meeting in the Andalusian city at the initiative of the Spanish Presidency, establishes that, “with a view to the perspective of an enlarged Union , both the EU and future Member States must be prepared.” Therefore, “aspiring members must intensify their reform efforts, particularly in the area of the rule of law, in line with the merit-based nature of the accession process and with the help of the EU,” it continues. The Declaration did not include any date for enlargement, not even the year 2030, which had been considered for this.
On the other hand, EU leaders will follow up on the proposal to review the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027 on the basis of the debate held at their last meeting, in October 2023, in which the European Council invited EU Council to push ahead with work so that a general agreement can be reached before the end of the year.
Last June, the European Commission presented its proposal for a mid-term review of the MFF, with an increase of 66 billion euros in EU spending for 2024-2027. Approximately a quarter of this increase will go to finance a new aid facility for Ukraine over the next four years and another quarter goes to cover Next Generation’s borrowing costs. The so-called frugal countries (Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and the Netherlands) have made it clear that they will not accept any increase in EU spending other than to support Ukraine.
On 22 November, the European Parliament definitively approved the annual budget of the European Union for 2024 and expressed its hope that an agreement for the mid-term review of the MFF will be reached in this December Council. In mid-November, the Commission warned that “rapid agreement on the review of the Multiannual Financial Framework is urgently needed to provide the necessary resources to cover crucial new needs, which cannot be financed within the multiannual budget ceilings as they are currently.”
