Rebuilding bridges with Europe was one of the priorities that Pere Aragonès set for himself since the summer of last year, taking advantage of the fact that the covid pandemic was subsiding. Yesterday he certified and consolidated the recovery of a certain normality with the highest European authorities with the one-hour meeting at the Palau de la Generalitat that he held in the morning with the Vice President of the European Commission (EC) Margaritis Schinás.
The fact is significant if one takes into account that the last time a position of this same rank from this European institution visited the headquarters of the Government was in July 2011, when Viviane Reding met Artur Mas. Shortly before, she had met in Brussels with the then president of the EC José Manuel Durão Barroso.
The former president met in 2015 with two more European commissioners, but in other locations. Since then, with the years of the sovereignist process and after the pandemic, during the presidencies of Carles Puigdemont and Quim Torra, relations at the highest European level have been on hold.
Aragonès has made an effort since the beginning of his mandate to rebuild and try to strengthen ties with the European Union, intensifying his international agenda with institutional trips to Belgium, Scotland, France and Germany. On May 6, he already set foot in the certification of a certain normality in relations with European bodies, when he met the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in Barcelona, within the framework of an event organized in Barcelona by the Cercle d'Economia.
That meeting was somewhat overshadowed because it coincided with the first time that the President of the Generalitat and Pedro Sánchez met after the Pegasus espionage scandal on sixty people from the independence environment.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Victòria Alsina, had also made her way in January, when she met with Commissioner Elisa Ferreria in Brussels.
In any case, the Government described yesterday's meeting with Schinás as "very cordial". The vice president, for his part, along the same lines, assured that the meeting was "constructive." They discussed, as reported by the Generalitat, "the Catalan projects that are being carried out with community funds", such as the European chip, green hydrogen, and other issues related to the health industry and the audiovisual hub.
Likewise, the two leaders delved into issues such as the consequences of the war in Ukraine. Schinás praised Catalonia's effort to welcome Ukrainian refugees.
Schinás, of Greek nationality and member of the European People's Party, had yesterday's agenda very tight. In addition to the Palau de la Generalitat, he was also at the Sagrada Família, at the Medicines for Europe annual conference in Sitges, he was seen with Foment del Treball, at the headquarters of the antibiotic manufacturer Centrient and at the Academia Europea Leadership directed by Josep Antoni Duran Lleida, where he delivered diplomas to the center's first class of students. “Catalonia is a social and economic showcase for Europe”, Schinás assessed on this stage.
In the evening, at an event organized by the Department of the Economy to commemorate the Ramon Trias Fargas year, on the occasion of the centenary of his birth, Aragonès again valued the meeting with Schinás. He praised "the European and pro-European vision" of the fact that he was Minister of Economy to demand that Catalonia reinforce trust in the institutions of Europe.
In front of Jordi Pujol, present in the room, Aragonès described the meeting as "beneficial" and affirmed that it has served, as he said, to strengthen Catalonia's position against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The head of the Government insisted that meetings like yesterday's are useful to strengthen the commitment with the European institutions, "and also to reinforce the role" that Catalonia wants to have. “Catalonia's future of freedom, progress and social justice passes through Europe”, he concluded.
