Spain will preside over the European Union during the second half of the current year, which means presiding over the Council of the EU in its various formations, with the exception of the external one, which is presided over by the high representative for Foreign Affairs and Security. It will be the fifth time he has presided over it since 1986. The last one was in 2010 and the next, predictably, in 2035.
It is a rotating presidency of a six-month nature. Spain will inaugurate a presidential trio formed with the following two, which will be Belgium and Hungary. The trios are informal groups of three presidencies that coordinate to give continuity to the EU’s work over a period of eighteen months.
This year’s Spanish presidency coincides with the Spanish general elections, which must be held before the end of the year. Pedro Sánchez is aware of the importance of this coincidence. He will be campaigning at the same time as he plays the role of President of Europe. Whether he wins or loses the election, he can be victorious. If he wins them, because he will have won, and if he loses them, because he could aspire to an international position, based on his recognized prestige in Europe and beyond. In Brussels, it is considered that he could end up occupying positions such as Secretary General of NATO or President of the European Council, the highest instance of power in the European Union.
The Spanish presidency this year is considered a sweep presidency, because it takes place at the end of the European legislature and a European Commission focused from the beginning on the green and digital agendas, and in recent years on the pandemic and the war ‘Ukraine. In May next year there will be European elections and the subsequent definition of a new work programme.
The content of a rotating European presidency essentially consists in the management of a large number of informal meetings of ministers responsible for different branches, meetings of permanent representatives of member states before the European Union, plus a large informal meeting of heads of State and Government of the Twenty-seven. There will be twenty-five ministerial meetings that will take place in various Spanish cities. An informal ministerial meeting on transport, telecommunications and energy is planned in Barcelona, ​​which could have as its main topic the completion of the Mediterranean rail freight transport corridor.
The traditional Informal European Council of Heads of State or Government will be held in Granada, preceded by a summit of the newly created European Political Community, which will be attended by all European countries, except Russia and Belarus. It will bring together forty-four heads of State or Government.
The European Council of Granada will devote special attention to the concept of “open strategic autonomy”, developed by the European Commission. It starts from the analysis of the main strategic vulnerabilities of the European Union in key areas such as defence, security, energy, food, health or digital technologies, as well as effective ways to deal with them.
In addition, a summit between the European Union and the Community of States of Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAC) is planned, which will be held in Brussels. It will be the first major meeting of the Spanish presidency, presided over by the current leader of the European Council, the Belgian Charles Michel, organized with Spain.
Pedro Sánchez has described the achievement of a European pact on migration as “highest priority”. In addition, it will have to preferentially attend to other matters on which Brussels must take important decisions without delay, such as the review of fiscal rules, the management of recovery funds or the reform of the electricity market. The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has declared that Spain will prioritize “ecological transition, digital transformation, social policies, strategic autonomy, energy security, interconnections, relations with southern neighbors and Latin Americans and the migration crises”. He added that Spain wants to “take advantage of the opportunity to tighten EU ties with Latin America and the Mediterranean”.
The Spanish presidency should move towards a true strategic autonomy of the European Union, with additional cessions of sovereignty by the member states, and establishing a mediating role and a proper profile for the European Union in a world marked by the growing rivalry between the United States and China and the risk of a new cold war.
The Conference on the Future of Europe should bear fruit in institutional improvements that bring the EU closer to its final goal of a federal union, equipped with common policies in matters of foreign affairs and defense, among others. For neighborhood reasons, Spain should also seek the end of Andorra’s association negotiations with the EU, which began eight years ago.
The expectations of a six-monthly European presidency cannot be overestimated, essentially consisting in the management of the busy agenda of complex and high-level meetings, but neither can the expectations be exaggeratedly devalued. In any case, Spain is a veteran in the field and aspires to repeat good management that benefits the EU as a whole, while allowing it to defend its own priorities.
