The Minister of Foreign Affairs sets out the main pillars and priority issues for the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU

The following points stand out from his speeches:

- The main areas of work that will inform the Spanish Presidency of the Council will be Ecological Transition, Digital Transformation and the Social Pillar of the EU. This is on top of strategic autonomy, economic recovery and energy security, as well as responses to the migration crisis, the war in Ukraine and the COVID pandemic.

- Regarding 10 main objectives of the future Presidency’s work programme, he said that they would be:

1. Debate on the future of the EU;
2. Review of recovery and resilience plans and Economic Governance;
3. Migration and Asylum Pact;
4. Social agenda: promoting the European Social Pillar action plan, especially on disability, childhood, gender violence, Europe of Health;
5. Development of the Internal Market: competitiveness and strengthening European industry and strategic autonomy, innovation, space;
6. Completing the Digital Agenda, boosting the connectivity and sustainability of urban mobility;
7. The Green Agenda (Fit for 55 package, the fight against climate change, biodiversity, etc.) and reform of the European energy market, as well as the development of interconnections;
8. Territorial cohesion (agriculture and fisheries, depopulation and the demographic challenge);
9. Youth and education;
10. The EU’s global role: strengthening multilateral and trade policies. In this area, special attention will be paid to Latin America, with an EU-CELAC Summit in Brussels (date to be confirmed), and to the Southern Neighbourhood, with a ministerial meeting in Barcelona (date to be confirmed).

- As well as reviewing the informal ministerial meetings (which we reported on last week in our newsletter “The EU in Headlines”), he added that:

• Granada will host an informal European Council (date to be confirmed);
• San Sebastian, a COREPER I meeting (date to be confirmed);
• Tarragona, a COREPER II meeting (date to be confirmed), and
• Albacete, a COPS meeting (date to be confirmed).

You will find this and other interesting news from recent weeks, as well as an overview of the agenda of the European institutions for the week of 12-16 September, in our newsletter “The EU in the Headlines” (the week of 5-9 September 2022).