News of Europe | 7/2023, First results of the Spanish general elections

Dear Federalists friends,

Welcome to the fifth edition of "News of Europe", the UEF's news brief. This week's main issue: First results of the Spanish general elections.

Thank you for your continuous readership and support. As usual, the opinions reflected in this brief are its author's (and the people quoted) only and do not reflect the position of the UEF. Good reading!

Against most prognostics, the far-right party Vox failed to secure enough seats in the Spanish parliament to be part of a right-wing coalition with the Popular Party (EPP affiliated), which became the strongest political force in Spain. Yet, the party of conservative leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo won't have enough lawmakers to form a government. 
On the Socialist camp, however, outgoing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez fared better than expected. He could be the one leading a left-wing coalition government with the support of regional parties, although a deal with independentist formations could re-open discussions about a possible Catalonian independence referendum. In the meantime, a caretaker government deals with the many issues on the agenda of the Spanish Presidency of the EU. 
What does it mean for the EU? The failure of Vox certainly sheds an uneasy light on the right-wing alliance strategy spearheaded by the EPP's boss Manfred Weber and Giorgia Meloni's ECR. And as Spain considers the possibility of a Conservative-Socialist grand coalition, could the EPP pivot to the centre of the European political spectrum ahead of the 2024 European elections? Only time will tell. And News of Europe will of course report on it.

In stark contrast with Brussels, which was last week under a November-style rain, Europe's South is struggling with raging wildfires. The Guardian spoke of a "ring of fire" encircling the Mediterranea Sea. The regions of Sicily, Calabria, Gran Canaria, as well as Croatia and Portugal are struggling with deadly fires. The University of Leipzig reported that July 2023 was the hottest in the history of meteorological records. More on that: the UEF collaborated with the Wilmics Twitch channel last Friday for an episode on climate change. 

Former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi held a lecture at the Martin Feldstein Lecture in Cambridge last month. The former President of the EU Central Bank addressed the topic of the monetary union, and underlined the "growing number of common objectives and the need to finance them at the European level, which implies a different form of representation and central decision-making structure". Mario Draghi voiced his optimism at the prospect of Treaty reform, as Europeans "are more ready than they were 20 years ago."

According to him, the strategies that ensured our prosperity and security in the past are insufficient and uncertain. "The war in Ukraine has redefined our Union more profoundly [...] also in the consciousness it has created that our future is entirely in our own hands—and in our unity." —Thanks to Davide Negri for this contribution.

Thief, liar, reneger, and world starver. These are a few words that can describe the Kremlin's tenant after Russia's withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain initiative. As the Russian military bombs Ukrainian ports, the EU discussed ways to secure Ukraine's grain last week. The most pressing question: how to ensure that the grain cultivated in Ukraine is safely shipped to the countries that need it most—most of them in Africa? As reported by Brussels(based newspaper Politico, "investigations have shown Russia has systematically stolen Ukrainian grain [and destroyed] as much as 60,000 tons of grain."We learned last Friday that EU ambassadors agreed to increase the number of seats at the European Parliament after the elections next year. Under this agreement, France, Spain and the Netherlands will gain two lawmakers, while Austria, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Latvia, Ireland and Denmark will get one additional MEP, increasing the total count to 720 elected representatives. The deal is pending the approval of EU leaders and the Parliament itself. As a reminder, Sandro Gozi, chair of the Spinelli Group, leads the file for the European Parliament.

The Council of Europe asked Greece to conduct a serious investigation into the dramatic boat accident which cost the lives of around 500 migrants last month. The UEF called for such an inquiry on 27 June.Lastly, UEF Executive Bureau member Giulia Rossolilo, who is also a Professor of European Union law, collaborated on this video of The EU Made SIMPLE Youtube Channel on the EU budget and the fiscal union. Watch it out.

Thank you for reading. If you like (or not) the newsletter, tell us here.

Federalist regards,

Alexandre Météreau
on behalf of the UEF Secretariat