Eduardo González
Apart from the already known agreement on dual nationality, the XXVI summit between Spain and France on March 15 will address other important issues on the bilateral and European agenda, such as the French reluctance to the certificate of vaccinations by COVID-19 defended by the Spanish government and the persistent problem of electricity and rail connections between the two countries.
To date, 25 Spanish-French summits have been held since these meetings were institutionalized in 1987. The last one took place in February 2017 in Malaga, with the participation of the then French president, François Hollande, and the then head of the Spanish government, Mariano Rajoy.
At France’s request, this coming Monday’s summit (to be held in Montauban, in the southwest), will have a hybrid format because of the pandemic, with the physical presence of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, and with the telematic participation of the twelve participating ministers from each country (the four vice-presidents and the heads of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Defense, Justice, Transport, Labor, Education and Universities, on the Spanish side, and their respective counterparts on the French side), both during the bilateral meetings and during the plenary meeting with the two presidents.
Apart from the inevitable review of the “excellent bilateral relations”, the two governments will try to agree on a follow-up mechanism for the summits similar to the one Spain has with other countries and will undertake to design a new institutionalized scheme to boost relations in all areas, according to Moncloa sources. Likewise, other agreements will be adopted on university mobility and on the promotion of bilingualism in both countries.
In any case, the most outstanding issue of the bilateral meeting will be the signing, by the two presidents, of the Dual Nationality Agreement between Spain and France, which was agreed in September last year by both governments after negotiations that began in March 2019 and which will be the first agreement of this type of Spain with a country not belonging to the Ibero-American sphere and, obviously, with a European country. When negotiating this agreement, among other factors, the important community of Spanish origin residing in France from the Republican exile was taken into account, according to the aforementioned sources, who highlighted, therefore, the “symbolism” represented by the celebration of the summit in Montauban, the city where the former president of the Spanish Republic Manuel Azaña died and is buried, whose tomb will be visited by Sánchez and Macron at the end of the meeting.
COVID-19 and interconnections
Apart from this, another important topic of the summit will be the management of the pandemic and the possibility of taking a common proposal on this issue to the European Council on March 25 and 26. Regarding this issue, according to the aforementioned sources, Pedro Sánchez will discuss with Macron France’s reluctance to the vaccination certificate, which is openly supported by the southern European countries most dependent on tourism, such as Spain, Italy, Malta, Cyprus or Portugal, and which is not viewed favorably by countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, which fear that it could be discriminatory for people who have not yet been able to get vaccinated in the summer. On February 25, the heads of state and government of the European Union undertook to seek “a common approach” to this issue.
Another issue to be discussed in Montauban is the recovery plans and the defense of the digital and green transition to get out of the crisis. Sanchez will therefore discuss with Macron on electricity and rail interconnections as a way to advance the green transition and the fight against climate change. The 2017 summit concluded with the signing of an agreement on rail and energy connections. However, at present, the energy exchange capacity through the Pyrenees is barely 3%, far from the 10% that the EU had planned for 2020 and the 15% set for 2030, coupled with an accumulated delay of two years in the electricity interconnection through the Bay of Biscay. As for railway connections, the most important challenge is the Somport tunnel, closed in 1970, which both countries agreed to restart by the end of 2020 with the aim of reopening the international Zaragoza-Canfranc-Pau line in 2025.
