Energy, European Union on the agenda as Macron heads to Spain and Portugal

PARIS: France’s Emmanuel Macron makes his first visit as president to Spain and Portugal, in his push to overhaul the EU, with the two southern allies seeking French help to connect their energy grids to Europe.

Macron will meet first with Spain’s new Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who travelled to Paris soon after coming to power in June.

The visit was seen as a sign of Sanchez’s intention to play a bigger role in European affairs compared with his predecessor Mariano Rajoy.

A source in Macron’s office hailed Sanchez’s desire to ‘ be more involved in European matters,’ at a time when Paris faces resistance to its EU reform blueprint from other countries, not least Germany.

The two men, both ambitious leaders in their 40s, “have a very close relationship,” the source said, adding there was ‘ nearly total convergence’ on their goals for the eurozone.

In particular, Macron is trying to win support for a eurozone budget, which he sees as a symbolic step towards closer European integration.

Spain and Portugal have first- hand experience of such solidarity, having both received multi- billion- euro rescue packages in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

Madrid and Paris are also broadly aligned on how to handle the thousands of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe, an inf lux that has bolstered populist parties. Both countries support the creation of ‘ disembarkation platforms’ outside the bloc to process refugee applications.

Spain has seen a surge in migrant arrivals in recent weeks as Italy’s populist government vowed to stop letting rescue ships dock, sparking an EU crisis that was barely papered over by an accord reached in June.

More than 18,000 migrants have reached Spanish shores so far this year – more than Italy, and nearly three times the number in the same period last year.

Macron will attend a state dinner hosted by King Felipe before heading Friday to Lisbon for lunch with Prime Minister Antonio Costa and an EU summit on improving the Iberian Peninsula’s energy links with the rest of Europe. — AFP