The Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union has already started. Parallel to the visit to Kyiv, the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, expressed yesterday in an institutional message his “gratitude” for everything the EU has done for Spain in recent decades and his “ambition” that this presidency leaves a mark.
“The time has come for Spain to show the world what we can do for Europe” and make the rotating presidency of the Council “a useful instrument that improves the lives of citizens” and, of Europe, “a space of certainties ”, affirms Sánchez in a video recorded in Moncloa.
Since the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009, the rotating presidencies have lost their luster. Now the EU has a permanent president of the European Council who presides over the summits (Charles Michel), a high representative of Foreign Policy who deals with the councils of foreign ministers (Josep Borrell) and a president of the Eurogroup (Paschal Donohoe ).
Its role, however, remains crucial to the functioning of the European legislative machinery. Spain will preside over the councils of sectoral ministers (Justice, Interior, Energy, Economy, Health, Education, Agriculture and Fisheries…), as well as the Coreper meetings, the forum that brings together the ambassadors of the Twenty-seven and where they have place all decisions. “The control of organization and logistics is a formidable weapon for any presidency in Brussels”, says former ambassador Javier Elorza in Una pica en Flandes).
The priorities of the Spanish presidency are clearly aligned with the current challenges of the EU and prepared by the identity badges of the PP-PSOE Government coalition. The implementation in directives or regulations will depend on how far the legislative process of each proposal has progressed and Spain finds areas of consensus between the governments (the Council) and the European Parliament, with whom final approval is negotiated. It remains to be seen whether an executive led by the PP, in association with Vox, would maintain the priorities set by Sánchez and to what extent the positioning as a country would alter the internal balances.
The first objective of the presidency is the reindustrialisation of Europe, guaranteeing what Moncloa defines as its “open strategic autonomy”. For this reason, according to Spain, it is necessary, for example, to deepen the relationship with Latin America to reduce dependence on other regions, and it aspires to ratify the commercial agreements with Chile and Mexico and to negotiate the final details of the pact with Mercosur.
Next, the Spanish program is committed to the digitization of the economy and the ecological transition. Several measures from the Fit for 55 package should be approved this semester, the ambitious green agenda promoted by the European Commission and which is increasingly contested by conservative parties and the far right.
“In the future, it will not be enough for the European GDP to grow, it will be necessary to ensure that the wealth generated reaches all citizens and serves to improve opportunities and living conditions”, explains the document on the priorities of the presidency to defend social and economic justice. The objective should be embodied in an agreement on the new tax rules, which is expected to be difficult in view of the latest clash between France and Germany in the Ecofin, as well as changes in the taxation of companies or the defense of the gender equality The last point should be translated into the approval of a directive against violence against women, one of the issues where there may be changes or friction in the event of a change in the Executive.
Spain, finally, also undertakes to work for the reinforcement of European unity in files in which it has been difficult to achieve a common position, such as immigration, as well as in which maintaining it is an absolute priority, such as support for Ukraine against Russia This week’s summit has served to visualize the weaknesses of the pact obtained by the Swedish presidency and approved with the vote against Poland and Hungary, furious that they were left in the minority and because of the content of the agreement.
With 27 countries around the table – one of them, Hungary, addicted to blackmail as a negotiating strategy – and a war on the doorstep of Europe, the advice that Minister Francisco Fernández Ordóñez received from his Dutch colleague because the first Spanish presidency was a success, as Elorza recalls, it is still valid: “99% perspiration and 1% imagination”.
