The Diplomat
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, received yesterday at the Moncloa Palace the Prime Minister of France, Jean Castex, to whom he conveyed Spain’s support for the upcoming French Presidency of the EU Council and with whom he announced the creation of a bilateral Spanish-French Commission to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso in 2023.
Castex travelled to Madrid yesterday to present the priorities of the French Presidency, which will take place in the first half of 2022 and will focus on economic recovery, the need to make progress in the negotiations of the new EU Migration and Asylum Pact and on the Europe of Defence.
During the meeting, Pedro Sánchez expressed his wish that the French Presidency of the EU “will be a success and its results will be beneficial for the European Union as a whole” and discussed with Castex some of the current priorities of the EU, such as economic growth and employment, the strategic autonomy of the Union or the pending reform of the Stability and Growth Pact, “a chapter in which Spain and France are in tune”, according to Moncloa.
Likewise, the President of the Government and the French Prime Minister agreed on the need for substantive progress towards a new Pact on Migration and Asylum during the first half of the year and addressed the importance of the external dimension of migration, with specific actions with respect to the countries of origin and transit. With regard to the Europe of Defense, both leaders showed their attunement to work together and align the objectives of the EU and NATO, especially ahead of the next summit of the Atlantic Alliance to be held in Madrid in June 2022. “Complementarity between the EU and NATO will be an important issue as both share interests, values and challenges,” Sanchez stated.
Regarding bilateral relations, the two heads of government underlined the “excellent” collaboration in judicial, police and security matters between the two countries and addressed the issue of the last ten border crossings between Spain and France that remain closed.
On cultural matters, Sanchez and Castex, fulfilling the commitment reached this year during the XXVI Spanish-French Summit in Montauban, announced the creation of a bilateral Spanish-French Commission to jointly commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso in 2023. The Commission, which will involve the collaboration of more than 30 cultural institutions from Spain, France, the United States, Germany, Switzerland and Monaco, will organize exhibitions, meetings and international colloquiums and develop new educational and audiovisual resources on the artist. The Picasso Anniversary 2023, according to Sánchez, “will allow a large public to discover or rediscover the great legacy of this universal artist through the activities and events that both countries will organize for nearly two years”.
