Sánchez and Macron seal a “historic” cooperation agreement between the two countries in Barcelona | Present

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The Head of Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the French President, Emmanuel Macron, met this Thursday in Barcelona together with some twenty of their ministers to sign the first Treaty of Friendship between the two countries, which aims to maximize bilateral cooperation.

Sánchez wanted to claim that the Treaty deals with numerous “projects with enormous potential such as H2Med, which links France, Spain and Portugal through Barcelona and Marseille”.

“With this we seal an exceptional relationship between countries and provide a legal framework designed to last over time. It strengthens both countries and reinforces a common project: Europe”, Sánchez said from Barcelona. “We want to weave a more intense relationship and we have room for it in the industry as a source of wealth, a relationship that strengthens science, where companies engage in dialogue, sustainable and innovative tourism, a green and digital economy, where heritage is defended We want to build bridges between nations so that ideas continue to intensify the relationship between the two countries,” he explained.

During the press conference, the President of the Executive has once again shown his support for the Ukrainian people, their “legitimate defense” and the desire to “recover a peace broken by Russian aggression.” Finally, Sánchez has vindicated the “necessary reaction of the European Union to the plans to bring in investments”, where both governments agree that Europe must give a firm response towards the digital and green transition, and the “need to advance in the reform of the European market”, on which both countries have presented their proposals. “Europe is a community of values ​​and this summit unites both countries even more in this city open to a future of opportunities”, he has finished.

The Spanish president wanted to take the opportunity to reproach Pere Aragonès, who left before the interpretation of the national anthems of Spain and France by the troops of the Barcelona 63 Infantry Regiment. “I would have liked Aragonès to would have stayed throughout the ceremony”, he mentioned.

Macron calls for cooperation between the two countries on a path “of friendship and European ambition”

In the subsequent press conference, Emmanuel Macron celebrated the signing of the Treaty in Barcelona that “is part of this history between the two countries that walk together”.

“The Treaty makes it possible to deepen and structure cooperation, since we have to renew the cooperative defense framework, speed up cooperation in the electrical rail interconnection and also in gas matters,” the French president pointed out. “Our cooperation in research is going to be strengthened in the field of agriculture and in the educational-cultural field of the university”, he added.

Macron has affirmed that what Spain and France intend, ultimately, is to “strengthen the bilateral relationship, allow them to be more effective and nurture cooperation within the European Union” since both countries have “the same conception of Europe: sure of its values ​​and rights to fight against competition in today’s world”, he commented.

“We are going to serve our cooperation on major issues: the war in Ukraine, in the face of which we have decided to develop our support for the country and promote a diplomacy that supports peace. In addition, we want to defend the reform of the electricity market. This path is a path of friendship, of affective choice at the service of a history that is broader than us, at the service of the peoples and of European ambition for a continent that is attached to peace, prosperity and ecological transition”, he concluded, ending his speech.

The escape of Aragonès and the pitos in Junqueras

The Catalan president, Pere Aragonès, welcomed the head of government, Pedro Sánchez, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, this Thursday at the start of the Spanish-French summit in Barcelona, ​​although he was absent before the interpretation of the national anthems of Spain and France by the troops of the Barcelona 63 Infantry Regiment. In the waiting time before Macron’s arrival, Sánchez and Aragonès once again spoke briefly alone.

This meeting takes place in the midst of mobilizations both in Barcelona and in France. Next to the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc, a short distance from the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC), where the summit will take place, the independence movement demonstrates under the slogan “Nothing is over here!”, to claim that the “procés” is still alive.

The ANC has criticized the ERC for falling into the “contradiction” of having the Catalan president, Pere Aragonès, in the initial greeting to the summit participants and, at the same time, sending the party president, Oriol Junqueras, to the demonstration of protest, which he abandoned soon after several pro-independence supporters shouted at him “Get out, botiflers!” and “Junqueras traitor!”

The most recent precedents of internal tensions are the independence demonstration of the last Diada of September 11, in which slogans against the Government of Aragonès were heard, and the act of celebration of the fifth anniversary of 1-O, where the leaders of ERC they were booed.

“They want to use today’s summit to impose a reality that is not”

After being absent from the final part of the reception, Pere Aragonès gave a press conference in which he highlighted “the good relationship between the Catalan government and French institutions”. “We want to be one more State in Europe”, he has claimed once again, while regretting that the Generalitat does not participate in the summit when Catalonia is the one that best knows its needs on various issues.

“They wanted to use today’s summit to impose a reality that is not. There continues to be a solid and transversal majority that wants to freely choose the future of the country. As long as the State continues to look the other way, there will continue to be conflict,” he ruled, calling for “a democratic response to the will in Catalonia”.

Despite the fact that the demonstration this Thursday in Barcelona has brought together some 6,500 people, according to the Urban Police, Aragonès has assured that the independentista “has mostly taken to the streets” and has downplayed the booing against Junqueras: “I would like to emphasize that it has been a very majority mobilization of positive self-affirmation and not focus on very minority expressions of a very small group of protesters”, he has tried to settle.