Costa and Sanchez today in Lanzarote with culture and the European Union on the agenda

The Prime Ministers of Portugal and Spain will be in Lanzarote on Tuesday and Wednesday for a summit on the legacy of José Saramago, with a focus on cultural exchange as well as on the agenda of the European Union.

The 34th Portuguese-Spanish Summit is taking place just four months after the previous one, in November, in Viana do Castelo, mainly due to Spain’s domestic agenda this year. Spain will hold regional and municipal elections on May 28, general legislative elections in December, and take over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) from the second half of the year.

“The decision has been made to hold the 2023 summit now to avoid the risk of losing the annual nature of these summits for scheduling reasons. This decision shows the interest that the governments of the two countries are showing in bilateral relations,” the source explained to Lusa. , the executive branch of Lisbon.

Official work at the summit will take place on Wednesday, but the meeting between the two governments will begin the day before, with a provisional agenda that includes a visit from the government leaders of Portugal and Spain, socialists António Costa and Pedro Sanchez. , to the house-museum of the Portuguese writer José Saramago, where since 1993 the Nobel Prize winner in literature has lived.

José Saramago for the two Iberian governments “is a symbol of the strong cultural ties” that exist between Portugal and Spain.

In this context, among the various agreements to be signed in Lanzarote, the Government of Portugal singles out precisely one concerning the cross-cultural program between Portugal and Spain, which will be dedicated to the 50th anniversary of democracy. A theme that will highlight the contributions of Portuguese and Spanish cultural figures to the democratic transitions of the two Iberian countries in 1974 and 1975.

This model of intercultural programming has already been developed during 2022 by the Portuguese executive, but together with the French government, a series of initiatives that brought António Costa to Paris for the first time and culminated on October 29 with a session at the National Art Museum. Old in Lisbon, in the presence of French Prime Minister Elisabeth Born.

At this summit together with António Costa will be ten of his 18 ministers: Foreign Affairs (João Gomes Cravinho), Justice (Catarina Sarmento and Castro), Culture (Pedro Adao and Silva), Science and Higher Education (Elvira Fortunato), Education. (Joao Costa), Labor and Welfare (Ana Mendez Godinho), Health (Manuel Pizarro), Environment (Duarte Cordeiro), Infrastructure (Joao Galamba) and Territorial Unity (Ana Abrunosa).

On Wednesday, at the end of the morning, after the plenary meeting of the two governments, “more than a dozen memorandums will be signed, covering almost all areas of the ministers’ activities.” [portugueses] participation in the summit,” a source in Lisbon told Lusa.

With regard to European issues, both governments underline the coherence of Portugal on issues such as economic management or energy, the area in which the “Iberian mechanism” limits the price of gas used to generate electricity, and the project of gas pipelines to transport hydrogen between the Iberian Peninsula and France (H2MED).

The final version of the declaration, which will be released in Lanzarote, is still under negotiation, but according to the Spanish leader, it should refer to commitments to the implementation of the H2MED project, primarily to the connection between Celorico da Beira and Zamora (CelZa) for transportation of hydrogen, which Portugal and Spain want to make “green hydrogen”, that is, produced using renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, while France has said it would also like to include nuclear power.

As for the “Iberian mechanism” in relation to the price of gas, which was in effect until May this year, Portugal and Spain have asked Brussels to extend it until at least the end of 2023, but are still waiting for a response.

On the national side, António Costa hopes that apart from energy issues, the Spanish Presidency of the European Council from the second half of this year will give a decisive impetus and close the trade agreement between the European Union and the MERCOSUR countries.

This trade agreement between the European Union and MERCOSUR, which has been consistently delayed over the past few years due in part to obstacles posed by European member states, is one of the main expectations of the Portuguese Prime Minister for the future Spanish presidency.