Eduardo González
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, received yesterday at the Moncloa Complex the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, with whom he fundamentally addressed the EU’s Strategic Agenda for the next five years.
“This afternoon I met with Charles Michel to work on the EU Strategic Agenda, which will set the community priorities for the next five years,” Sánchez declared through his official account on the X social network.
“I have conveyed to him the importance of having an ambitious agenda that combines the reindustrialization and defense of Europe with raising wages and achieving our environmental objectives,” he added. The meeting took place just ten days before the elections to the European Parliament.
For his part, Michel reported through the same social network that the meeting had focused on the preparations for the next meeting of the European Council, which will take place on June 27 and 28, and on the EU Strategic Agenda for the next five years. “I also thanked Spain for its steadfast support for the people of Ukraine,” he added. “Spain plays an important role in building a stronger, more sovereign Europe,” he concluded.
On April 10, Charles Michel himself summoned European leaders in Warsaw to debate the Strategic Agenda 2024-2029, the document that sets the EU’s political priorities for the next legislative cycle and that must be approved, precisely, in the June European Council. At that meeting, Sánchez asked that the Agenda prioritize “the well-being of citizens” without neglecting “European security and defense”, the common industrial policy and the protection and deepening of the internal market.
The future Strategic Agenda began to be worked out at the Granada Summit – during the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU, whose Declaration contains the basic elements of the debate.
Maroš Šefčovič
Previously, Pedro Sánchez received, also yesterday at the Moncloa Complex, the vice president of the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič, with whom he spoke about “the future of the Union and the role that the green agenda, social justice and strategic foresight they must have in it,” according to the head of the Executive. For his part, the EU vice president specified that both had talked about “how to ensure that the EU is successful in the green transition, while ensuring that it is fair and that our policies are prepared for the future.”
Šefčovič was also received by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares. “We continue working for an agreement in relation to Gibraltar,” the head of Spanish diplomacy simply indicated through X. The vice president of the European Executive is the commissioner charged by the EU to participate in the negotiations on the future of Gibraltar after Brexit.
Negotiations between the European Commission and the United Kingdom, with the presence of the Spanish Government, on the future relationship with Gibraltar have accelerated in recent weeks, but without a definitive agreement having yet been reached.
On May 21, Sánchez assured before the Plenary Session of the Congress of Deputies that “intensive work is still being done to guarantee that the freedom of movement of people and goods is done with due guarantees and without any distortion to the internal market,” and expressed confidence that “a comprehensive agreement will be reached in the coming weeks.” However, the advancement of the elections in the United Kingdom, announced for July 4 by the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, could put a brake on the negotiations.
