Pedro Sánchez attends European Council meeting

At Thursday's session, the Heads of State and Government of the European Union are scheduled to discuss the vaccination strategy and the possibility of issuing coronavirus vaccination certificates to people who have received a vaccine in order to boost mobility and rescue the tourist seasons, which would contribute to the economic recovery of the sectors hardest hit by the fallout from the pandemic.

During the course of discussions on Thursday, President of the Government Pedro Sánchez will underline the need to rally around this proposal, which already has backing from Spain.

Furthermore, the 27 Member States will look for formulas to increase vaccine production capacity in Europe and to step up the supply.

Spain will support the donation of vaccines to Africa and Latin America from the European Union. In fact, the Council of Ministers approved a "solidarity vaccination" universal access plan on 19 January aimed at ensuring that a significant percentage of the global population has access to the COVID-19 vaccine.

In terms of health issues, the European leaders will discuss communication by the European Commission regarding the Health Emergency Response Agency (HERA), an agency designed to improve coordination in the response by Member States to health-related situations.

Spain supports this proposal, as well as the initiative from the President of the European Commission, Charles Michel, on the negotiation and approval of an international treaty against pandemics in partnership with the World Health Organization.

Security and defence

Security and defence issues will be discussed during the course of the session on Friday, with the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, in attendance. Spain wishes to maintain progress on the EU Common Security and Defence Policy, in which it is the leading contributor to external military and civilian missions.

Furthermore, the Government of Spain supports the idea of "strategic autonomy" for the European Union in partnership with NATO.

Southern Neighbourhood

Relations with the countries on the opposite side of the Mediterranean are a priority area for Spain as they lead to partnership opportunities in the fields of education, economic affairs and climate change. This matter, which was already discussed at the European Council meeting on 21 January, will again be the subject of analysis.

Non official translation