Workshops

Café Europa: "What is the outcome of the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council?"



A few days before the end of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU, let us take stock of this semester that ends on 31 December, at the last session of the year of the cycle of online debates "Café Europa" organized by the Fundació Catalunya Europa and the Horizonte Europa Association.

This last six months of the rotating presidency of the EU Council was crucial for further progress on the European priorities and challenges set in the agenda before the European elections in June 2024. During its Presidency, Spain set out to reindustrialise the EU, guarantee open strategic autonomy, advance the ecological transition, promote more social and economic justice, and strengthen European unity.

What is the assessment of the work done? Have the objectives set out been achieved? How will this presidency be remembered? Which dossiers were left? We talked about all this with three journalists specialising in European politics.

  • Xavier Vidal-Folch, journalist and analyst of El País and Cadena Ser.
  • María García Zornoza, correspondent for the newspaper Público in Brussels.
  • Nacho Alarcón, correspondent for El Confidencial in Brussels.

The session was presented and moderated by Dolors Camats, director of the Fundació Catalunya Europa.

On this occasion, the literary recommendation of the bookstore Nollegiu is "Europe", published by the Editorial Arcadia. It is a book of history and personal memory, a living report of the destiny of Europe from the Second World War to the present day, reconstructed through the eyes and life trajectory of the historian and journalist, Timothy Garton Ash, considered one of the most influential intellectuals in the world. This is the mosaic of a Europe that needs to be thought out in order to understand its drift and be able to defend what we have collectively achieved despite all the crises.

The cycle of online debates Café Europa is held on the last Friday of each month, with an informative character to bring European and international themes to the citizens.

You can recover this session of the Café Europa cycle on the YouTube channel of the Catalunya Europa Foundation and also on the podcast Café Europa of the Ivoox platform.