STORY: Commissioners discuss Spain's EU Council presidency plans in Madrid
DATELINE: July 4, 2023
LENGTH: 00:01:31
LOCATION: Madrid
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and the College of European Commissioners led by the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
2. SOUNDBITE (Spanish): PEDRO SANCHEZ, Spanish Prime Minister
3. various of Spanish ministers and the College of European Commissioners taking photos
4. various of the meeting

STORYLINE:

Seventeen members of the College of European Commissioners led by the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met in Madrid on Monday with Spain's government headed by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to review the country's plans and policy priorities.

On July 1, Spain took over the rotating six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) from Sweden.

For the next six months, Spain has established the following priority issues: reindustrializing the EU and ensuring its open strategic autonomy; advancing the green transition and environmental adaptation; promoting greater social and economic justice; and strengthening European unity.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish): PEDRO SANCHEZ, Spanish Prime Minister
"Spain takes on this presidency with enormous ambition and with the certainty that it will have the support of the European Commission, its president, and its College of Commissioners to face and overcome this challenge."

Sanchez said that his government would also work on a revision of the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027 and on the reform of the economic governance framework to enable the member states to overcome austerity and combine the sustainability of public finances with the correct financing of the green and digital transitions.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Madrid.
(XHTV)