The Diplomat
The PP has asked the Government that the events of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU that will coincide with the campaign for the general elections of July 23 are not held in Spain in order to avoid “interference in the electoral process”.
The Vice-Secretary of Institutional and International Affairs of the Popular Party, Esteban González Pons, has sent a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares (with copies to the Swedish Minister for the European Union, Jessika Roswall; the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the Ministers for European Affairs of the Member States), in which he expresses the “concern” of the PP for the “overlapping of various events of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union with the campaign and election day”, which will take place between July 7 and 23, because, in his opinion, the participation in these official events of government ministers who are also candidates could be understood as “an interference in the electoral process”.
According to the MEP (spokesman and vice-president of the European People’s Party in the European Parliament), this “concern is shared” by the European Commission, which has decided to bring forward by one week its visit to Spain so as not to coincide with the beginning of the campaign, and by the European Parliament, which has also “postponed its visit and has postponed the presentation speech of the Presidency until September”.
For this reason, the leader of the PP makes a “formal request” so that the acts of the Spanish Presidency are not held in Spain but in Brussels or Luxembourg during this electoral period, in order to guarantee “neutrality” and to avoid that the European debates become “the object of a campaign” and that “ministers and political leaders of other Member States can be involved in politically compromising situations”.
Esteban González Pons acknowledges in his letter that the recent French Presidency (first half of 2022) also coincided with an election. However, he considers that the French elections were “planned in advance” and both the French and European authorities “acted accordingly” to avoid any institutional conflict between them.
During the election period, meetings are scheduled for the Agriculture and Fisheries Council (July 10 and 11 in Vigo), the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (July 13 and 14 in Madrid), the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (July 17 and 18 in Valladolid), the Environment Council (July 18 and 19, also in Valladolid) and the Justice and Home Affairs Council (July 19 to 21 in Logroño). In addition, a meeting of ambassadors has been scheduled in Tarragona (July 20, 21 and 22) and the EU-CELAC summit, but this will be held in Brussels on July 17 and 18.
