Sánchez highlights the role of the MED-9 in the major debates on the future of the EU

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has chaired the ninth MED-9 Summit in Alicante, holding several working sessions with the Mediterranean leaders of the European Union, and focusing mainly on the strategic autonomy and economic governance of the EU.

Pedro Sánchez has highlighted the strength of the nine countries that make up the MED-9. "The countries that make up this forum represent 45% of the EU's population," said the Prime Minister. "We aspire to have the greatest possible influence as a group within the Union and for this we need to be clear on our common interests and have well defined proposals," he said, reiterating that these proposals must be able to "build bridges and bring together shared concerns from a common desire".

He also underlined the "strength of Southern Europe", recalling that the countries present at the MED9 have demonstrated their desire to be part of the solution, with their response in recent years to complex contexts such as the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. "We proposed ideas that ended up helping shape the NextGenerationEU funds," he said. "And right now, we are can offer our country for energy hubs".

Open strategic autonomy of the European Union

Against the backdrop of Russia's aggression against Ukraine and its multiple impacts, the MED-9 leaders held a first meeting focused on the EU's strategic autonomy, with the energy issue in the spotlight. In this respect, the President of the Government recalled that the ideas that Spain put on the table at the Athens Summit in 2021 were pioneering and, despite having aroused scepticism in Northern European countries, "are today consensus proposals for the whole of the European Union". Furthermore, Sánchez reiterated that the countries of the South have demonstrated their capacity to build the European agenda with innovative proposals that provide real solutions to the new and pressing challenges facing the continent.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel attended the first working session of the MED-9, where their leaders underlined the importance of maintaining European unity and solidarity vis-à-vis Putin's blackmail by exploiting oil and gas.

During this working session, the MED-9 leaders focused their discussion on the Market Correction Mechanism, the Commission's proposal for a gas price cap. "This proposal needs to be adjusted and we have agreed to work together in this direction," Sánchez said. "The aim is that at next week's extraordinary Energy Council a dynamic and really effective gas price cap can be agreed".

The President has indicated that for Spain, the three gas regulations under discussion - the one on reinforcing gas solidarity, the one on accelerating the deployment of renewables and the one on the gas price cap - are part of a comprehensive package that "must be approved jointly".

He also indicated that it is essential to speed up the reform of the European electricity market to minimise the impact of gas prices on electricity prices, and announced that the Government of Spain is working on a proposal to be presented shortly. "It is crucial to further reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels and to achieve this goal. Spain is ready to contribute to the security of supply to the rest of the Member States". Our country, explained the President, has the conditions for this because of our leadership in renewables and our regasification capacity, which can be adapted to the needs of different countries. "We want to put all this at the disposal of our partners," he said, indicating that this desire responds to "a Europeanism rooted in Spanish society that stems from moral conviction and solidarity as a founding value of the European project".

The President of the Government also referred to the meeting he held this morning with the French and Portuguese leaders to set out the details of the implementation of the H2Med corridor to move towards an energy interconnection between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe.

Economic governance vis-à-vis the war in Ukraine

During a second working session, the MED-9 leaders addressed the economic framework in which the EU is operating, in a context generated by the impact of Putin's war, a "severe impact in terms of growth, inflation and uncertainty", said President Sánchez, indicating that the countries meeting today in Alicante have the dual task of tackling the causes of inflation and adopting the necessary measures to alleviate the consequences of the rise in prices.

Regarding the upcoming review of the EU's economic governance, the nine leaders agreed that European fiscal rules are extremely complex and need to be reformed on two premises: preserving sound public finances, ensuring their sustainability, and reinforcing sustainable growth through increased public and private investment in areas aimed at the green and digital transition.

Sánchez said that the European Commission's recent proposal to reform fiscal rules is "a good starting point for technical and political discussions", which "must be accelerated to reach an agreement at the European Council at the end of March".

The President also reiterated the importance of keeping sight of the strategic importance of relations with the Southern Neighbourhood. "Right now the EU is focused on the Eastern flank, and therefore we must pay attention to our closest neighbours in the South, with whom we share interests and challenges", he explained, stressing that the stability of the Southern Neighbourhood is "fundamental for the stability of Europe". In this regard, Sánchez reiterated the MED-9 countries' desire to develop a "new common agenda for the Mediterranean", describing it as an agenda "in which the European Union "shows its commitment to the South, as an area whose relevance must be very much considered".

Non official translation