On Monday 3 July, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that he would present his vision of the EU’s open strategic autonomy up to 2030 at the Granada Summit on 6 October (see EUROPE 13202/23).
“We will propose a vision for moving forward between now and 2030 - a vision that identifies concrete technologies, goods, services and raw materials that the EU must produce competitively within a decade”, he announced at a joint press conference with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in Madrid. In his words, the aim is “to contribute to Europe’s prosperity and resilience and to its new strategic agenda, which will be adopted in early 2024”. He explained that this vision had been developed “step by step”, with 80 ministers from across the EU.
However, Mr Sánchez, who has announced early elections for mid-July, may no longer be Prime Minister on that date.
The EU’s open strategic autonomy is one of the priorities of the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council, as is the competitiveness of European industry and the economy, a choice welcomed by Mrs von der Leyen. “We can be proud of what we’ve done, but if we want to stay at the forefront of this technological race, we have to keep going. The message must be clear to industry: Europe is the place to do business”, she said.
“The international order is changing, the EU must change, we must strengthen our technological leadership, guarantee our economic security, diversify our trade relations with a focus on countries that are friends and close to us”, explained Mr Sánchez. He went on to say that his country was banking on a new commercial expansion that would capitalise on Europe’s commercial advantages, focusing on the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Mrs von der Leyen hoped that progress would be made on trade agreements with Mercosur and Chile over the next 6 months. The President of the Commission also welcomed Spain’s focus on trade and cooperation, underlining the importance of the EU-CELAC summit - the first in 8 years - to be held on 17 and 18 July.
The Presidency hopes to conclude the legislative dossiers on critical raw materials, net zero emissions and artificial intelligence.
Support for Ukraine will remain high on the agenda of the Spanish Presidency, as it has been for previous presidencies. “The EU and Ukraine will be together until the final victory,” promised Mr Sánchez, who visited Ukraine on 1 July, the first day of his country’s term of office as President of the EU Council. For Mrs von der Leyen, “we are at a decisive moment when we must redouble our efforts on behalf of Ukraine”, despite the fact that the invasion began more than 500 days ago, “500 days of suffering, but also of resilience on the part of the Ukrainian people”.
The Prime Minister made it clear that the EU would help Ukraine throughout the Russian invasion and during the “long and prosperous” peacetime, adding that the support would be political, financial, military and humanitarian, but also on the road to EU membership. The Commission will publish its progress report on Ukraine in the autumn, and the European Council will have to decide in December whether or not to open negotiations on the country’s accession to the EU.
Another priority of the Spanish Presidency is the ecological transition, according to Mr Sánchez, who said he was “fully in step with the European Commission” in the fight against climate change. “We must not deny the problem”, he said, “but tackle it head-on and turn it into an opportunity to create a new economy and new jobs”. In particular, Spain wants to work on the reform of the electricity market, ‘Fit for 55’ and the circular economy.
Madrid will also be working on the revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) “to achieve reforms that will overcome the after-effects of the financial crisis and enable social and territorial integration”. Mrs von der Leyen hoped that the revision of the MFF could be adopted by the end of the year.
Mr Sánchez cited the digital and environmental transitions, as well as the Migration and Asylum Pact, hoping for a “balanced agreement that suits everyone” by the end of the year.
Without going back over the difficulties encountered at the June European Council, the Spanish Prime Minister felt that the challenge of irregular migration should lead Europeans to “a European response and not one that is the sum of national responses”. Mr Sánchez felt that it would be “very symbolic” to reach an agreement under the Spanish Presidency, at a time when Spain has experienced major migratory crises.
Asked about the future of the EU, Mr Sánchez admitted that he wanted “a more federal Europe” with “more shared sovereignty”. “We need to find common responses to the challenges we all share and the challenges facing our societies”, he explained.
See the Spanish Presidency programme: https://aeur.eu/f/7v4 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)