While the country has just emerged from early elections - the result of which has not yet enabled a new government to be formed - Spain takes over the presidency of the Council of the European Union from July 1 until the end of the year.
The country holding the Council presidency organises and leads all Council meetings. It also represents the Council in its relations with institutions of the EU, including in the framework of the trialogues with the Parliament and the Commission. As such, the member state holding the presidency has an important agenda-setting power.
The Spanish government will use this opportunity to push forward four priority areas:
- reindustrialising the EU and guaranteeing its open strategic autonomy;
- advancing in the green transition;
- promoting greater social and economic justice;
- strengthening European unity.
More specifically, as regards the third priority, the Spanish Presidency will focus on social dialogue, decent work and the social economy. In this regard, it will foster the debate on how green collective bargaining can favour a just green transition. It will also seek to conclude an agreement with the European social partners on remote work and the right to disconnect. It will also speed up trialogue negotiations on the platform work directive and the directive on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work. Finally, it will support the launch of the Social Imbalances Framework initiative, which aims to introduce indicators to detect and correct possible social imbalances within the European Semester, with a view to its first-time application in autumn 2023.
You can consult the complete programme of the Spanish Council presidency here.