<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, will pay a state visit to Spain this week. In addition to being received by the King and Queen and the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, he will become the first German head of state to visit Gernika since it was razed by the Nazi Condor Legion in 1937. </strong></h4> Frank-Walter Steinmeier, accompanied by the First Lady, Elke Büdenbender, will make a state visit from November 26 to 28. “The state visit reflects the excellent level of bilateral relations between Spain and Germany, partners in the EU and NATO allies, and takes place just two months after the visit of the German Federal Chancellor, Friedrich Merz,” Moncloa Palace stated earlier this month. Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife will be officially received with military honors by the King and Queen on Wednesday, November 26, at the Royal Palace in Madrid. At midday, King Felipe will meet with the German President at the Zarzuela Palace, and afterwards, the King and Queen will host a luncheon for the President and his wife. That evening, the traditional state dinner hosted by the King and Queen during state visits will take place at the Royal Palace in Madrid. On Thursday, the King and Frank-Walter Steinmeier will inaugurate the 11th Spanish-German Economic Forum, organized by the Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organizations (CEOE), and the German President will be received by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at the Moncloa Palace. That evening, the German President and First Lady will host a reception in honor of the King and Queen at the German Embassy in Spain. On Friday, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife will continue their agenda in the Basque Country, where they will visit Bilbao and Gernika. This event will have strong symbolic significance, as it will mark the first visit by a German president to the Basque town of Gernika since its destruction by the Condor Legion of Nazi Germany in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War and while on the Francoist side. Imanol Pradales, the Lehendakari (President of the Basque Government), specifically requested this past Friday in the Basque Parliament that the Spanish State take "good note of the profound democratic sentiment of the German President, who will appear in Gernika in an act of reparation and recognition of the wrong committed." "No one doubts that the Spanish State of that time bears no resemblance to the current one," he added, "but we are asking nothing more and nothing less of the Spanish State than what the President of Germany will do." <h5><strong>Second visit to Spain</strong></h5> This is Frank-Walter Steinmeier's second visit to Spain since taking office in March 2017. His first visit took place at the end of October 2018, on that occasion with the status of an "official visit," not a "state visit," and included meetings with the King and Queen and Pedro Sánchez, who had only been Prime Minister for five months. The King and Queen made a state visit to Germany in October 2012, during which King Felipe VI had the opportunity to meet with Steinmeier and the then Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, among others. On September 18, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made his first visit to Spain, which was clearly marked by differences of opinion between his government and that of Pedro Sánchez regarding the Middle East, specifically on the definition of the situation in Gaza as "genocide" and on the recognition of the Palestinian state. That same day, the 25th bilateral summit was held in A Coruña, chaired by Pedro Sánchez and Olaf Scholz. Born in Detmold (North Rhine-Westphalia) in 1956, the Social Democrat Frank-Walter Steinmeier served as Foreign Minister twice (2005–2009 and 2013–2017) and as Vice-Chancellor from 2007 to 2009. In the 2009 elections, he was the SPD's candidate for Chancellor. He was a member of the Bundestag from 2009 to 2017 and leader of the SPD parliamentary group from 2009 to 2013. He has held the office of President of the Republic since March 19, 2017. On February 13, 2022, he was re-elected for a second term, which will end in 2027.
