Albares welcomes Metsola to promote the use of co-official languages in the European Parliament

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, and the President of the European Parliament (EP), Roberta Metsola, greet each other

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has received the President of the European Parliament (EP), Roberta Metsola, at the Palacio de Viana, with whom he discussed the promotion of the use of co-official languages in the European Parliament. The meeting also discussed the importance of citizen participation in the European elections in June and the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), among other issues.

Albares reminded the EP President of the importance Spain attaches to multilingualism and the use of co-official languages in the European institutions.

In this regard, the minister recalled Spain's request to be able to use the co-official languages in the plenary sessions of the European Parliament, the only main EU institution with which Spain does not yet have an administrative agreement for the use of these languages.

European elections

Albares and Metsola agreed that the forthcoming elections to the European Parliament are key for democracy and were concerned about the low turnout in these elections, although the Spanish turnout is above the EU average. In the last elections in 2019 it was 60.7%.

The meeting was also an opportunity to review the achievements of the Spanish presidency of the EU and to reaffirm the consolidation in the current Belgian presidency of the approach maintained by Spain in dossiers such as the Migration and Asylum Pact or the reform of the treaties.

The future of the CAP

The meeting with the EP President also covered other topical issues such as the situation of farmers in the EU, the negative impact of the COVID-19 crisis and Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

Despite the undeniable benefits of the CAP, Spain advocates structural and short-term solutions, which is why the Government recently announced a package of 18 measures for the CAP that respond to farmers' concerns.

Non official translation