Madrid (EFE) rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union that Spain will assume in the second half of the year.
Predictably, the Government will also take advantage of the summit of European leaders and the informal European Council that will take place in Granada on October 5 and 6, the most important event of the Spanish presidency, to boast of a monument as superb as the Alhambra and probably of its gardens for some of the activities that will take place on those dates in the Andalusian city.
While waiting for the Government to specify this point, most of the 22 cities, four of them in Andalusia, chosen by the Executive as the venues for the current presidency have the necessary facilities ready or advanced to accommodate the enormous activity that will take place in this months.
As the Executive has reported, these cities are Valladolid, Madrid, Vigo, Logroño, Bilbao, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santander in July; Toledo in August; Córdoba, Cádiz, Santiago de Compostela, Zaragoza, Barcelona, Cáceres and Murcia in September; Granada, Valencia, León and Palma in October; and Seville, Gijón and Pamplona in November.
According to the information collected by the EFE delegations in Spain, these will be some of the chosen venues:
Andalusia
The summit and the informal European Council that will bring together the 27 heads of State and Government of the EU in Granada will be held in the Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos, a building inaugurated in 1992 that offers more than 45,000 square meters distributed over seven floors with a total capacity of 5,500 people and that in 2025 will host the Goya gala.
The Palacio de Congresos de Córdoba, located in a building from the beginning of the 16th century considered one of the largest representations of the humanist Gothic in the city and located in front of the Mosque-Cathedral, will host the Council of Agriculture between September 3 and 5 and Fisheries focused on agriculture.
In Seville, the Navigation Pavilion, built for Expo 92 and which since 2012 has housed a museum on the evolution of Atlantic navigation, will host the Informal Interministerial Space Council on November 6 and 7.
The Palacio de Congresos de Cádiz, built on the structures of the old tobacco factory of this thousand-year-old city and which already hosted the XXII Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government in 2012, will receive the meeting on September 4 and 5 informal Development Cooperation.
Aragon
The Zaragoza Conference Center, built on the banks of the Ebro for the 2008 Expo and presided over by the enormous sculpture “El alma del Ebro” by Jaume Plensa, will offer its 22,000 square meters of surface area for the informal meeting of Ministers of Education and Youth on September 18 and 19.
Asturias
Gijón will hold the Housing and Urban Development Council on November 14 and 15 at the Laboral City of Culture, considered the largest building in Spain with its 270,000 square meters and which previously housed the city’s Labor University.
Canary Islands
On July 27 and 28, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria will make available to the Council for Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumers (Health) the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium, a singular building in the shape of a lighthouse that presides over the southern end of the urban beach of The pits.
cantabria
In Cantabria, the emblematic Palacio de la Magdalena de Santander, the former Royal Residence that today is the headquarters of the Menéndez Pelayo International University, is the location chosen for, just four days after the general elections, on July 27 and 28, the meeting of the European Science Ministers in the Competitiveness Council, focused on research.
Castile and Leon
Valladolid will launch this round of events from July 10 to 12 with the informal meeting of Environment Ministers, which will occupy the Patio Herreriano Museum of Contemporary Spanish Art, with its cloisters, chapels and patios, in turn inscribed in the great monastic complex from the convent of San Benito (14th century).
Castilla la Mancha
Toledo will host meetings on Defense and Foreign Affairs on August 28, 29 and 30, and the place chosen is the Toledo Weapons Factory, which since the end of the 20th century has housed a part of the Campus of the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Toledo and is considered one of the best-preserved and highest-quality sets of industrial architecture in Spain.
Catalonia
Barcelona will host the informal transport ministerial meeting on September 21 and 22, which will meet at the Hospital de Sant Pau, and will also host European conferences on creative and cultural industries in the field of R&D in July at the Museo del Design, among other topics, and in November the regional forum of foreign ministers of the Union for the Mediterranean in the Palau de Pedralbes.
Galicia
In Galicia, the first meeting will be for those responsible for Fisheries, in Vigo, between July 16 and 17, with meetings in the Auditorio del Mar. On September 15 and 16, the heads of Economy will visit the community, who will They will meet at the Cidade da Cultura in Santiago de Compostela and will stay at the hostel of the Catholic Monarchs, in the Plaza del Obradoiro next to the cathedral.
Madrid
The capital of Spain will host a large number of events, such as the Council for Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumers (Social) on July 13 and 14, spread over a multitude of venues, including the recently launched Royal Collections Gallery, that he will receive a visit from the College of Commissioners of the European Commission on 3 July; the Reina Sofía or Thyssen Museums, the Cervantes Institute or the Bank of Spain, as well as the World Heritage cities of Alcalá de Henares, Aranjuez and San Lorenzo de El Escorial.
Region of Murcia
Murcia will host the General Affairs Council from September 27 to 29 at the Artillery Barracks, an old military installation ceded to the City Council in 1998 by the Army that is conceived as a center for artistic and cultural creation, production and interpretation.
Navarra
The Navarra Baluarte Conference Center and Auditorium, which turns twenty on October 30 and does so as a benchmark for the Foral Community to host both congress and cultural activity, located right in the center next to the Citadel, will be the last of these venues with the Equality meeting on November 23 and 24.
Basque Country
In Bilbao, the Euskalduna Palace will host the meeting of the EU Competitiveness Council on July 24 and 25, which will be attended by the ministers of commerce, economy, industry, research and innovation of the member states, as well as in San Sebastián will hold the preparatory meeting for the work of the Council of the EU in October.
The Rioja
The La Rioja Conference Center and Auditorium, known as Riojaforum, a building inaugurated in 2004 that stands out for its architecture, design and functionality, will host the informal meeting of Justice and Home Affairs of the EU Council from July 19 to 21.