Brussels, 3 July 2023
The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, have met at the Moncloa Palace.
Following the meeting, held a day after Sánchez’s visit to Kyiv with the aim of exchanging points of view on the axes of the Spanish six-month period, the two men made a joint declaration in which they reaffirmed their determination to spare no effort to support Ukraine and to work for European unity.
The head of the Spanish Executive stressed that the Spanish presidency will work hard to make progress on all fronts, but will focus on four priorities.
These four priorities are the reindustrialisation of the EU and ensuring its open strategic autonomy, advancing in the green transition and environmental adaptation, promoting greater social and economic justice, and strengthening European unity.
Yesterday, Spain took over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU. A great task that we take on with gratitude and humility.
Pedro Sánchez, President of the Government of Spain
Strategic vision to reindustrialise and diversify EU relations
“Firstly, we are going to promote all those issues that will help Spain and the other Member States to attract industries, reindustrialise our continent, modernise our economy, and expand and diversify our trade relations with the outside world”, Sánchez said.
In this context, the Spanish presidency will propose a strategic vision of how to continue moving towards this goal until 2030 to the Council and the Union as a whole, with the intention of discussing it at the Informal Meeting of Heads of State and Government in October in Granada.
CELAC summit, an opportunity to broaden ties
The Spanish presidency considers that Europe needs new allies and that “Latin America and the Caribbean can and should be one of the most important”. At the EU-CELAC Summit, the European Union will seek to broaden trade and investment ties with Latin America.
The first bilateral summit in eight years, Michel also stressed, will be a great opportunity to deepen the partnership between the countries and the two continents on issues such as the green transition and economic cooperation.
The second priority of the Spanish presidency will be to promote everything that will allow Europe to continue to make progress on a green transition that protects the environment, and thirdly, it will work to achieve greater social and economic justice in Europe.
Spain is fully aware of how much its membership of the Union has given it over four decades, and that is why we are going to work with appreciation and above all with a deep European sentiment.
Pedro Sánchez, President of the Government of Spain
Another priority – Sánchez stressed – should be to continue strengthening European unity.
“Unity around our common values, which today are unfortunately more threatened than ever; unity around the well-being of our citizens. And unity around our commitment to Ukraine, to its people, whom we do not leave behind and whom we will always continue to support”, he stressed.
The President of the Government of Spain recalled that on his trip to Kyiv on Saturday, the first day of the Spanish presidency, he wanted to convey symbolic support, but also specific measures to help the Ukrainian people.
The President of the European Council praised the fact that the Spanish presidency had been very well prepared and valued the “strong message” of Sánchez’s trip to Ukraine.
“Today Ukraine is at the forefront of the struggle to safeguard European principles and values. Our duty is to support the people of Ukraine as much as possible and for as long as necessary”.
Charles Michel, President of the European Council
Michel also praised Spain’s role in addressing problems and challenges, seeking solutions and forging compromises.
“I have no doubt that you will rise to the occasion. The priorities for your presidency are crystal clear and they are also on the same wavelength as the interests of citizens in the European Union”, he said.
Source – EU Council