Philip VI will open the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Spain’s accession to the European Communities in 1986. He will do so with a solemn speech to the plenary session of the European Parliament, on Wednesday January 21, at midday.
The intervention of the Spanish Head of State will be the political act of opening of a year full of anniversaries and assessments over four decades of European integration.
According to a draft calendar approved by the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament, to which this newspaper had access, the Strasbourg plenary session will host a specific formal session to commemorate the 40 years since the accession of Spain and Portugal.
The working document establishes a formal session from 12:00 p.m. to 12:30 p.m.in which the successive intervention of King Felipe VI and the President of the Portuguese Republic is planned, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousain front of the hemicycle of the European Parliament.
After the speeches, the calendar immediately reserves a voting block, confirming that this is indeed the central act symbolic of the day.
The decision of the Conference of Presidents places this anniversary at the central day of the January plenary sessiontraditionally dedicated to set the priorities for the European political year.
The ceremony is recorded in a community agenda marked by wars in the neighborhood, commercial negotiations and the fight for global competitiveness.
The presence of the King in Strasbourg aims to underline the Spain’s commitment to the European project at a time of geopolitical tensions and citizen weariness with institutions.
Felipe VI has already made other official visits to European institutions since his proclamation in 2014.
In April 2015 made his first visit as head of state in Brusselswhere he met senior officials of the European Commissionhe European Council and the European Parliament to reaffirm Spain’s European commitment.
The same year, in October, the Monarch intervened in a solemn sitting of the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourgas he will do on this occasion.
In this speech delivered by the then President of the European Parliament, the German socialist Martin Schultzdefended that “Europe can count on a Spain united and proud of its diversity“.
Integration and modernization
On January 1, 1986, Spain and Portugal joined the European Communities after a long process of negotiations. after the fall of their respective dictatorships in the mid-70s.
Accession was the culmination of a process of democratic transition and economic opening with which the two countries sought to anchor themselves irreversibly in the European community. And this will be reflected in the intense activity that community institutions plan to commemorate.
Entry into the European Economic Community (EEC) meant for Spain the definitive closure of the cycle of international isolation inherited from Francoism. It also opened the door to full participation in internal marketAt free movement and access to the great cohesion fund it would transform the country in the following decades.
In these 40 years, Spain has exceeded to be a net beneficiary help to become one of the big four of the Union, alongside Germany, France and Italy.
The Spanish economy has modernized, increased its external opening and converged in terms of per capita income and social norms with the most advanced democracies in Europe.
THE European Structural Funds and cohesion have financed a large part of the infrastructure which structures the territory today, from motorways and high-speed trains to wastewater treatment plants and electricity networks.
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