Spain’s priorities for the Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Spain has taken over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, a post which the country will hold for 6 months. In June, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, presented the priorities on which Spain will focus, which it must now seek to deliver.

Spain will assume this challenge “with a deep feeling of gratitude and responsibility”, said Pedro Sánchez. In this context, the President of the Government emphasised the European spirit of our country, recalling that Europe is today a reality that unites us as a nation. “Europe was our door to modernity and it will be the path that leads us to a better future”, he stated, recalling that in recent decades there have been many voices that, in times of crisis, “there have been many anti-European parties that have gained political weight and even a presence in our institutions”. However, he stressed, “Europe has been stronger than all of them, it has overcome crises and has emerged stronger from them.”

Thus, President Sánchez has structured the main ones on which Spain will focus its Presidency on four main axes.

First, reindustrialise the European Union and guarantee its open strategic autonomy. The President of the Government recalled the context of international opening that, in the last five decades, has become one of the main engines of economic and social progress in the EU. In this sense, he reiterated the need to find new ways to move Europe away from situations of excessive dependence on third countries in areas as crucial as energy, health, digital technologies and food. Pedro Sánchez underlined the opportunity that geopolitical, technological and environmental changes offer us to position Europe at the forefront and make the region capable of attracting new companies and jobs, generating wealth and reducing external vulnerabilities in these matters.

President Sánchez stated that Europe is emerging today in the eyes of the world as a “safe and friendly” space, a region that has all the necessary ingredients to lead the economy of the future, such as talent, innovation, a position privileged geopolitics, institutional stability, clean energy, state-of-the-art infrastructures and a first-rate business ecosystem.

During the next few months and in order to move towards open strategic autonomy, the Spanish Presidency will work on two fronts. In the first place, it will promote the files that make it possible both to promote the development of strategic industries and technologies in Europe and to diversify our commercial relations. In this sense, President Sánchez reiterated that Latin America should be a priority, for which reason the EU-CELAC Summit will be of great importance, as President Sánchez has indicated. Secondly, Spain will propose a common strategy with the aim of guaranteeing the economic security and global leadership of the EU until the year 2030. The President of the Government recalled that Spain will be committed to a European Union capable of positioning itself as the great architect of the new international order.

Pedro Sánchez highlighted progress in the ecological transition and environmental adaptation as a second priority. In this regard, the President of the Government stressed that curbing climate change and environmental degradation will allow us to drastically reduce our dependency on energy, raw materials, thus lowering our electricity bill and making European companies, ultimately, more competitive. Moving towards the ecological transition, recalled President Sánchez, will allow us to save up to 133,000 million euro in imports of fossil fuels by 2030, while making our companies more competitive by creating, along the way, close to one million jobs in this decade alone.

To advance in this priority, the President of the Government has indicated that during the Spanish Presidency a reform of the electricity market will be promoted to speed up the deployment of renewables, reduce electricity prices and improve the stability of the system. “We will expedite the processing of legislative files linked to the Fit for 55, such as the Gas and Hydrogen package, and the energy efficiency regulations”, stated Pedro Sánchez.

The consolidation of the Social Pillar, that is, achieving greater social and economic justice, occupies a key place among the Presidency’s priorities. Thus, during the next semester, Spain will advocate for the establishment of minimum and common corporate taxation standards in all Member States and will combat tax evasion by large multinationals. “An evasion that every year costs Europe 1.5 points of GDP, that is, the same amount that it invests in building public housing and protecting the environment “, highlighted President Sánchez. The Spanish Presidency will therefore work to put an end to this injustice and will promote the establishment of minimum standards for business taxation in all Member States.

In addition, as the President of the Government has explained, Spain will prioritise the appropriate review of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework, and will work “to achieve a reform of the fiscal rules that allows an end to the austericidal policies that did so much damage during the crisis financial year 2008”. A reform that manages to advance on the path of transparency and makes it possible to combine the sustainability of public finances with the correct financing of the green and digital transitions.

Fourthly and lastly, the President of the Government has announced that, in a context marked by uncertainty and growing geopolitical tensions, strengthening European unity will be among the priorities of the Spanish Presidency. In this sense, a greater deepening of the internal market, the culmination of the banking union and the capital markets union will be advocated.

Spain will also work to improve and consolidate common instruments such as NextGeneration funds, and to move towards a more efficient and coordinated management of migration and asylum processes. “Today I cannot fail to mention the terrible tragedy experienced yesterday in the Ionian Sea, with the sinking of a boat full of human beings”, stressed the President of the Government. “This dramatic event once again challenges us as democratic societies.”

Likewise, President Sánchez stressed that this priority also includes continuing to support Ukraine and other neighbouring states in a coordinated manner.

In addition to promoting these four priorities, during the next six months Spain will host and coordinate negotiations at the highest level on a multitude of vital issues, ensuring the approval of dozens of files that will end up being transformed into laws and concrete measures. “This process will not be carried out with our backs turned to the public”, stressed President Sánchez. “On the contrary, our presidency will be guided by a premise: closeness. That is why it will be the first to take place throughout the country.” Thus, all the Autonomous Communities will host at least one ministerial meeting and will thus have the opportunity to show European public opinion the richness of their land and the diversity that defines Spain. all this, in a participatory environment and with a cultural agenda and dissemination that will allow citizens to enjoy this semester. “Over the last four decades, the EU has done a lot for us. Now the time has come for us to show the world how much we Spaniards can do for it”, he concluded.

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