Madrid’s EU presidency: Spain’s FM says Europe awaits Spanish leadership

Asked about Kiyv’s request for international aid following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine, Albares says that “The EU is always trying to respond as quickly as possible to all needs, whether humanitarian, to take care of the refugees, [or] militarily. ... And Spain, bilaterally, is preparing a very important package of humanitarian aid, and our voice will be raised in Brussels to make sure that the EU responds – and it will respond.” 

We ask if the Spanish general election scheduled for July 23 will take energy and resources away from Spain’s EU presidency. “Not at all”, Albares responds. “There have been all kinds of precedent for this with caretaker governments, with changes of governments. We’ve been working for a year and a half. I’m the president of the organising committee. We have set the themes, the Councils, the dates. Everything is ready, and it’s going to be a great success. Our EU partners won’t sit back and wait (for the election result); I talk to all my colleagues in Brussels and they are waiting for Spanish leadership, because it’s a very pro-European government and society. ”

Albares turns to the stakes in Spain’s general election and the stakes in the European elections of 2024. “For Europe, what happens in the next election in Spain is important, and what happens in the EU parliament elections next year is very important,” he asserts. “There is a challenge to European values coming from outside – but also from within – our societies. And I want to recall that European values are not only beautiful philosophical ideas; they are also the engine of growth and stability in Europe. That cannot be changed. And in Spain, the party that can stop the challenge to our common values is the