The Spanish turn in the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union threatens to be a semester of high tension, highly susceptible to being influenced by national political pulses. The MEPs of the Popular Party (PP) have stood up today to the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, who has traveled to Strasbourg to meet with the members of the Spanish delegation in the European Parliament and to talk about the Government's priorities for the next presidency Union, a responsibility that he will hold from July 1 to December 31 and that will foreseeably coincide with the holding of general elections.
"The PP has made a mistake again. There are moments in which one must be the opposition and others in which one must be Spain. The Spanish presidency of the EU is one of those moments in which we must be Spain," Albares criticized at the end of the meeting in statements to the press in which he has accused the PP of choosing to be "uninformed" about the European presidency. The minister has asked the popular to "reconsider." "You cannot be angry all the time with everyone," he said, citing his position regarding the participation of the Government in the Ibero-American summit, Morocco or the EU.
In a letter sent to Albares last week, the PP made the holding of "a prior meeting" between the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the leader of this formation, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, a condition for their participation in the meeting. Given the lack of response, today they have chosen not to attend the meeting and have accused the Government of having "zero institutional respect" and "zero sense of State". Sánchez's executive that it is something that the PP can request."The place where the Government must discuss this issue with all the political groups is the seat of popular sovereignty, the Congress," insisted Albares, who says he hopes "with great interest " the presentation that the mixed commission Congress-Senate prepares on the European presidency as a result of the meetings held since September.
Montserrat, for her part, has accused the Government of wanting to appropriate a responsibility that belongs "to all of Spain", she said. "The Spanish presidency of the EU is not owned by any government, nor by that of Sánchez, it belongs to all of us Spaniards", declared in Strasbourg the head of the popular delegation in the European Parliament, Dolors Montserrat, who has described it as an "anomaly democracy" that "75 days" from the beginning of the presidency are unaware of the objectives and priorities of the Government. "They're already late," she insisted. Albares disagrees. "It is still early to establish some priorities" and to know "in which state" Sweden will transmit certain dossiers to Spain, the minister argued. "We are also in a convulsive and changing moment in Europe and until the last moment we will not be able to set priorities. We will do it in mid-June, just as Sweden and the Czech Republic have done."
The head of the ranks of Ciudadanos in the European Parliament, Adrián Vázquez, for his part, has described the situation produced by the popular sit-in as "regrettable" and has asked both this party and the Government to act responsibly. "We are going to the meeting with a clear message: we are going to ask the PP and the PSOE to please start doing adult politics in Brussels", explained the European leader of C's, concerned about the bad "image" that Spain will transmit if at beginning of the Spanish presidency, in July, the EC reiterates its criticism of the problems of the rule of law in Spain due to the inability of both parties to agree on the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary.
Vázquez has made clear the C's intention to scrutinize every step of the Government in detail to ensure that it does not use the presidency for its own benefit. "We are going to ask him not to use such an important moment as the presidency to "deliver Pedro Sánchez's CVs" in Brussels and Strasbourg. "It seems that every time he comes to Europe what he is looking for is a job", he plays many cards but never for the good of Spain but based on his party or his professional future", Vázquez insisted, alluding to the distribution of senior positions in the European institutions scheduled for 2024.
In addition to the parliamentarians of the PSOE and Ciudadanos, members of Vox, ERC, Podemos, IU, PNV and BNG have also attended the meeting with Albares, "all those attached to political groups except the PPE, Albarés has emphasized. They have been low The Junts MEPs, who are not currently attached to any political group, and the representative of Anticapitalistas Miguel Urbán, who declined the invitation, have explained diplomatic strengths. The head of Spanish diplomacy has taken advantage of the visit to Strasbourg to also meet with the German Social Democrat Bernd Lange, Green MEP Terry Reintke, and Forza Italia MP Salvatore De Meo.
Hours before traveling to the Alsatian capital, Albares has inaugurated the Civil Society Forum in Madrid, a space for debate with the participation of unions, business organizations, NGOs and representatives of the world of culture, science or sport to incorporate their points of view to the Spanish turn of the rotating presidency of the Council. "If there is no robust and vibrant civil society, there is no vibrant democracy," said the Vice President of the European Commission for Democracy Affairs, Dubravka Suica, who congratulated Spain for being the first country to create a forum for this type.
