Trip by President of the Government to Federal Republic of Germany

This Informal Summit will take place at "Meseberg Castle", a retreat for guests of the German Government since 2007, which hosts visitors from all over the world and offers the possibility of holding talks in a more relaxed and personal atmosphere.

This Summit represents an opportunity to review the state of bilateral relations between Spain and Germany and the main issues on the European political agenda, among which the current migratory crisis is a major priority. Spain, at the request of its European partners, has been contributing its experience on the issue of the management of migratory flows through cooperation with the countries of origin and transit to this debate.

It is foreseeable that the reform of the Economic and Monetary Union, the situation of the economy of the Eurozone, and the situations in Ukraine, Libya, Syria and Iraq will also be tackled during the Summit, together with the Jihadi threat posed by DAESH.

On another issue but within the framework of this Summit, a business meeting will take place organised at the headquarters of the German BDI (German equivalent of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations - CEOE), to be held in Berlin on the morning of 1 September. This meeting, organised by the German BDI and Spanish CEOE, will include the participation of representatives at the highest level of the German and Spanish business fabric, including the Spanish Minister for Economic Affairs, Luis de Guindos, the German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schauble, and the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, José Manuel García-Margallo.

President of the Government Rajoy and Chancellor Merkel will take part in the closing ceremony, and will offer a Q&A session with the representatives of German and Spanish companies in attendance, in the same way as at the business meeting held in Madrid in 2012, which also counted on the participation of the two leaders. All of this will allow the change that has taken place in the Spanish economy in recent years to be staged at the highest political level before a broad representation from the business world.

[Images from the first day: 31 August 2015]