Madrid (EFE).- The Government and the European Commission, led by their respective presidents, Pedro Sánchez and Ursula von der Leyen, meet this Monday in Madrid to analyze the agenda of the Spanish presidency of the EU Council and the objectives of this mandate, including finalizing the Pact on Migration and Asylum.
It will be, according to Executive sources, the third “milestone” scheduled for the first three days of that presidency, which began on July 1 and will last until December 31.
The first of these was the trip that the chief executive made to Kiev on Saturday to symbolize as soon as he assumed that European responsibility, that the EU will continue to support Ukraine until the end of the Russian invasion.
After returning from that visit, in which he assured that the EU will maintain this support for Ukraine “as long as it takes” and “regardless of the price to pay”, Sánchez received the President of the European Council this Sunday at the Moncloa Palace , Charles Michel, to also address the existing expectations regarding the Spanish presidency.
In a joint appearance, the head of the Government said he was convinced that the presidency would be a stage of “great progress” for the EU, and the President of the Council stated that he had no doubt that Spain was going to “live up to the situation”,
The third activity that the Government highlights in the early stages of that mandate is the visit to Madrid of the College of EU Commissioners, the team that makes up the European Commission headed by Von der Leyen.
Sánchez and his ministers will have the opportunity to explain to Von der Leyen and the commissioners the priorities of this period.
Four will be the axes of this presidency for the Spanish Government: the reindustrialization of the EU and guaranteeing its open strategic autonomy, advancing in the ecological transition and environmental adaptation, promoting greater social and economic justice and reinforcing European unity.
Among the issues in which it is expected that progress can be made over the next six months is the Pact on Migration and Asylum, the modification of the fiscal rules, the reform of the electricity market (of which Spain has at all times been a firm advocate) or the revision of the community budget to allocate more aid to Ukraine.
These and other issues will be discussed at the meetings that will be held in the newly opened Gallery of Royal Collections.
The meeting, according to Moncloa, will serve to make this 40,000-square-meter building known outside of Spain, which, located between the Royal Palace of Madrid and the Almudena Cathedral, exhibits works by El Greco, Caravaggio, Velázquez, Goya or Bernini, among many other artists, and who has received ten architecture awards.
The trip of the members of the College of Commissioners (not all of them will travel to Madrid) was initially scheduled for July 6 and 7, but Sánchez and Von der Leyen agreed to bring it forward a few days so that it would not take place in the middle of the electoral campaign for the elections generals of July 23.
Some elections that the Government affirms will not have an impact on the objectives of the presidency of the Council of the EU and on the development of the planned agenda.
After the meeting, the members of the College of Commissioners will go to the nearby Royal Palace, where they will be received by Felipe VI.