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Spain sees no risk to EU presidency from July snap election

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Spain sees no risk to EU presidency from July snap election
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (R) speaks as his Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson listens during their joint press conference. Photo: PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU / AFP

There is "no risk" that Spain's upcoming European Union presidency will be affected by an early general election in July, Spanish Prime minister Pedro Sánchez said Monday.

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Sánchez last week dissolved parliament and called a snap election on July 23rd following heavy losses for his Socialist party in local and regional elections on May 28th.

Spain is slated to take over the rotating presidency of the bloc from Sweden on July 1st.

READ ALSO: Who won where in Spain's regional elections?

Asked if the general election would affect its turn at the helm of the bloc, Sánchez said the goals for this presidency were shared with the other EU member states and the European Commission.

"There is no risk that all the goals which we set before the elections were called will not be met during this presidency," he said during a joint news conference with his visiting Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson.

"Other nations have held elections as well during their presidency and absolutely nothing went wrong," he added.

Kristersson said he "fully shared" Sánchez's assessment that there is "no problem at all".

READ ALSO: Collapse of Spain’s far-left complicates vote for Sánchez

He recalled that Sweden held elections just before its presidency of the bloc while France held presidential elections in April 2022 during its EU presidency.

"Every country is very well suited to handle all the activities at the same time," Kristersson said.

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Sánchez had been scheduled to address the European Parliament's plenary session on July 13th to outline Madrid's main policies during the six-month presidency, but he requested it be delayed to September due to the early elections.

That would allow the speech to be delivered by a new Spanish premier in the event that Sánchez is defeated in the election.

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