<h6><strong>The Diplomat</strong></h6> <h4><strong>Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares presided over the presentation on Tuesday, December 2nd, of the special ONCE lottery ticket dedicated to the 40th anniversary of Spain's accession to the European Communities.</strong></h4> "The essential work carried out by ONCE is known, respected, and admired throughout the world, and here at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs we are clear on this: that is also what makes Spain what it is, that is the image of Spain, and that is how we project Spain with our best values: a socially advanced country, committed to justice, committed to social and personal progress," Albares declared at the event, held at the Ministry headquarters on Marqués de Salamanca Street in Madrid, and which was also attended by the president of the ONCE Social Group, Miguel Carballeda. The lottery ticket, which goes on sale December 15, will be drawn on January 1, the exact date of Spain's accession to the European Union. “2025 marks 40 years since Spain signed the Treaty of Accession to the then European Communities,” an anniversary that “also coincides with the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the end of the dictatorship,” he continued. “This is not a mere coincidence. Without Europe, without joining Europe, the process of democratic consolidation in Spain would not have been the same,” he stated. “This ONCE lottery ticket that we are presenting today will be drawn on January 1, 2026, precisely the day that, 40 years ago, Spain formally joined Europe, which is a powerful symbol reminding millions of citizens that Europe is part of our daily lives,” the minister continued. “Europe is in what we study, how we work, how we get around, the rights we exercise; it is in the daily lives of people with disabilities, in their opportunities for education, employment, mobility, and social protection—in short, in their full citizenship, which we must always aspire to and defend,” he continued. “This ticket is a small window on paper, in this case, that opens a great conversation every day about Europe and inclusion, and there could be no better time to celebrate this event, because tomorrow, December 3, we commemorate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities,” Albares noted. According to the minister, the 2025-2028 Foreign Action Strategy “places the rights of people with disabilities among the priorities of our international human rights policy and makes our embassies and missions active agents of inclusion.” “The same is true of our development cooperation: the Cooperation Law establishes disability as one of the guiding principles of Spain’s global solidarity,” he added. Albares also recalled that the Government has strengthened its institutional presence “with the creation of the figure of the Ambassador on Special Mission for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”, has supported “crucial advances, such as the World Health Organization resolution on rare diseases”, and has “role models who carry our voice to all international forums, such as Ana Peláez, the first woman with a disability to chair the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women”. Following the presentation of the ONCE lottery ticket, a round table discussion was held highlighting the key milestones that have contributed to the advancement of the rights of people with disabilities in Spain within the framework of the 40th anniversary of Spain's accession to the European Union. Moderated by the Ambassador on Special Mission for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Jesús Celada, the round table included the participation of the Secretary of State for the EU, Fernando Sampedro; the Director of International Relations of the ONCE Social Group, Javier Güemes; the Director of the European Parliament Office in Spain, María Andrés; and the Director of the European Commission Office in Spain, Daniel Calleja. Teresa Sánchez, a person with deafblindness, also participated, sharing her personal experience of the progress she has witnessed.
