The meeting was held by the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Ana Paula Zacarias, and by the Secretary of State for the European Union of Spain, Juan González-Barba, and without “continuing the dialogue and cooperation between the Ministries of both countries in the inter-summit period”.
The first meeting of the monitoring mechanism took place on December 4, 2020, in Lisbon.
“[No encontro] the need to promote the Common Strategy for Cross-border Development was also emphasized, highlighting the advances achieved in aspects so relevant to two countries that maintain excellent bilateral relations and a common border, such as those relating to the Cross-border Worker Statute, the circulation harmonization document of minors at the border and the 112 Transfrontier, among others “, reads in a statement released today by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The MNE statement added that it was stressed that “work will continue with a view to renewing the 1977 Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, in order to reflect, in all its dimensions, the growing density and depth of bilateral relations”.
“The meeting shared by both Secretaries of State is the opportunity to reflect also on the recent Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the next Spanish Presidency in 2023 and to debate in depth issues on the European agenda, such as the Conference on the Future of Europe and the need to generate synergies to take advantage of a strategic opportunity to implement the respective recovery and resilience plans in a coordinated manner”, elaborated.
Both delegations, according to the MNE, “committed to strengthening bilateral contacts at all levels, in order to deliver substantial results at the next Luso-Spanish Bilateral Summit, which will be held in Trujillo”.
The meeting was held in a hybrid format, as was already successful in the previous follow-up mechanism meeting, due to the restrictions imposed by the covid-19 pandemic.
JML // RBF
Portuguese / End