Madrid (BLAZETRENDS).- Spain has begun tonight the semi-annual presidency of the Council of the European Union, the fifth time that it has assumed this responsibility and which opens with a symbolic trip by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to Ukraine to ratify the support community to this country in the face of the Russian invasion.
Sánchez travels this morning by train to the Ukrainian capital after participating in Brussels in the summit of EU leaders in which that trip was announced and after which he stated that his commitment during that mandate will be to guarantee the unity of Europe in support to Ukraine.
It was Zelenski himself who, in a videoconference speech before the leaders meeting in the Belgian capital, advanced and thanked the chief executive for moving.
Zelenski emphasized the symbolic nature of Sánchez’s visit on the first day of the Spanish presidency of the EU.
Ukraine’s aspiration
“For the first time, the beginning of a country’s presidency will be emphasized with a visit to Ukraine. And this says a lot about how important the next six months will be for our Europe.
This is a historic moment to start negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU,” he said before stating that Ukraine is ready and “fully prepared” to start them.
Sánchez, on his third trip to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, will arrive in Kiev first thing in the morning, will meet with Zelenski and will speak before the Ukrainian Parliament to guarantee that the support of the European Union will continue without fissures. .
Government sources underline that the Spanish presidency of the EU wants to set unanimous support for Ukraine at the top of its priorities, both in the military, humanitarian and economic fields, and intends to reinforce the commitment to the stabilization, recovery and reconstruction of the country .
It also supports his goal of one day forming part of the European Union, encouraging him to undertake the necessary reforms to do so.
Council and Commission, in Madrid
Sánchez will return to Spain this Saturday and on Sunday he will receive the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, at the Moncloa Palace, with whom he will have a working dinner.
The following day, Monday, Spain will receive the visit of the College of Commissioners, the members of the European Commission, led by its president, Ursula von der Leyen, and there will be meetings of all of them with Sánchez and the rest of the ministers.
A meeting that will take place in the newly opened Gallery of Royal Collections.
It was planned that to open the semester of the Spanish presidency of the EU there would be a concert in Madrid on Sunday attended by the king and the president of the Government, but the agenda was changed after Sánchez decided to advance the general elections to July 23.
Moncloa sources explain that it was decided to change a playful act for a work agenda that, in the first three days of the presidency, will take Sánchez to Kiev and will have the heads of the Council and the Commission travel to Spain.
Normality despite Elections
Beyond this change and others such as the advancement of the visit of the College of Commissioners so that it does not coincide with the electoral campaign, the Government emphasizes that the elections will not affect the development of the presidency or the expected objectives.
They frame this coincidence in a normal environment, remembering that it is not the first time that it has happened in a country and that, for example, it is what happened last year when France assumed the semi-annual presidency and held both presidential and legislative elections.
But the elections open the question of whether the political sign of the Government will be the same at the end as at the beginning of the presidency.
Yes, there have been complaints from the Popular Party because it reproaches the Government for not having informed it of the preparation of this mandate.
Faced with the hypothesis of a change of government, the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has created a group with former foreign ministers of José María Aznar and Mariano Rajoy and with other experts to prepare the development of the European presidency.
The priorities
Spain assumes it with four main priorities: the reindustrialization of the EU and guaranteeing its open strategic autonomy, advancing in the ecological transition and environmental adaptation, promoting greater social and economic justice, and reinforcing European unity.
Among the issues on which it is expected that progress can be made over the next six months (the last full rotating presidency before the 2024 European elections) is the Pact on Migration and Asylum, the modification of fiscal rules, the reform of the electricity market or the revision of the community budget to allocate more aid to Ukraine.
During the six months there will be meetings of European commissioners and ministers throughout Spain, and, specifically, there will be 22 cities that will host an event of these characteristics.
The main one of all of them will be in Granada, where on October 6 there will be a summit of EU leaders preceded the day before by another of the European Political Community, which brings together the heads of state and government of the community with those of the European countries which, like the United Kingdom, are not part of the Twenty-seven.
Another relevant appointment of the presidency will be in Brussels on July 17 and 18, when the leaders of the EU will meet with those of Latin America and the Caribbean in a summit promoted by Sánchez to strengthen relations between the two regions in a meeting that will not take place. celebrated since 2015.
