Pedro Sánchez: "We defend Europe because we can no longer conceive of any other way of being in the world"

Barcelona

The chief executive closed the European Pulse forum, organised by POLITICO in collaboration with beBarlet, which brought together political and business leaders and experts to discuss the main issues that will define Europe's future. The president defended the European project in times of uncertainty, recalling that Europe "was born of the political courage" to bring its values of democracy, solidarity and social justice to a changing world.

In his speech, Pedro Sánchez defended Spain's commitment to Europe moving forward with greater ambition and courage for the future. He highlighted the European project as the fundamental framework within which Spain has consolidated its position, with the highest rates of economic growth in the Eurozone, as well as improvements in employment and wages, and reductions in poverty and inequality. "We defend Europe because we can no longer conceive of any other way of being in the world," he said.

He also pointed out that thanks to Europe, Spain has been able to develop an exemplary model for tackling the green transition, demonstrating how it is possible to protect the environment without sacrificing profit, growth or the distribution of wealth. It is a model that would not have been possible without Europe, and which represents the model "of the Europe we want".

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during his speech at the closing of the forum | Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo

In the face of the reactionary backlash seeking to undermine the European project, he recalled that it was the struggle against these forces "that drove us to build societies that are much more cohesive, far fairer and far more democratic". In this regard, he assured that to those who believe that Europe is lagging behind, the success of the EU is measured in terms of the well-being it provides as a global benchmark: "Europe is not the problem, it is the benchmark".

Pedro Sánchez argued that Europe must adapt and respond to current needs without renouncing its model. He said that the key to ensuring the political, economic and social survival of the EU is autonomy based on greater integration and sovereignty, which is built "with vision and with far-reaching political decisions". To this end, he proposed three priorities for the model that Spain wants for Europe.

First, he advocated moving forward with the Security and Defence Union, understood as "a European public good", calling for a sense of urgency in its undertaking. He stressed the need for genuine commitment, stating that "Spain is ready to move towards a European army". Second, he called for progress on the internal market and financial sovereignty to strengthen competitiveness and ensure growth, as well as to enable sustained large-scale investment and the development of common security. "We must boost the internal market and increase our financial sovereignty as the key factors to gain competitiveness," he said.

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, along with other participants in the forum | Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo

As a third priority, he pointed to the strengthening of cohesion and the European social pillar as intrinsic elements of the EU: "Strengthening the social pillar is essential to sustaining our community project. Without a social pillar, there will be no Europe". He particularly focused on the European-wide housing problem, calling for "much more concrete and ambitious" measures to reach people.

Last, he highlighted the principles that portray Europe as open to the world, to trade, to talent and to ideas, because closing Europe off would be "to impoverish it both now and in the future", he said. He also defended the need to maintain a firm stance in upholding international law and the rules-based global order. "Europe has to act coherently," he stated.

Non official translation