Spain takes advise on EU presidency

The Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has invited a number of key European politicians and elder statesmen to his office in Madrid for a meeting tomorrow. The Spanish press reports that his guests are considered as Europe’s ‘wise men’, and that he is hoping that this will be the first of several such meetings to be held during Spain’s presidency of the EU.

Spain assumed the European Union's six-month rotating presidency on the 1st of January , which also marked the appointment of the Union's first-ever permanent president and foreign affairs chief in attempts to lift Europe out of its worst recession in decades .

On 14 December 2007 the European Council decided to establish a "reflection group" of prominent politicians and business leaders that they referred to as ‘wise men’, to identify the key issues which the Union is likely to face in the coming decade and how these could possibly be addressed. Spain’s former Prime Minister Felipe González was named chairman of the group.

Others in attendance include Jacques Delors, the long-serving Commission President (1985-1994) who is considered as one of the 'fathers of Europe'.

Felipe González, former Spanish Prime minister (1982-1996) and chairman of a reflection group on the future of Europe will also join, alongside former Spanish commissioner Pedro Solbes (1999-2004)

Joaquín Almunia, Spain’s current commissioner, was also invited but was unable to attend, the daily El País writes reported.

The priority of this initial meeting is to make progress on the first objective of the Spanish EU presidency, namely, to re-enforce a “European economic government” and improve the coordination of the EU’s common policies in economic affairs and employment. Prime Minister Zapatero intends to take advice for the future coordination of tax policies and the reform of the financial supervision, the newspaper reported.

Zapatero is also looking to push for the adoption of a “Systemic risk Council”, a new body designed to alert the Union on possible crises similar to the one which started with the mortgage bubble.

As far as a policy on taxation is concerned, Spain will push for the adoption of three directives with regards to the exchange of tax information, aimed at stepping up the fight against tax fraud in all of the EU countries.

The Prime Minister is a known admirer of Jacques Delors, El País notes. In a recent interview with the press, Delors expressed his bitterness towards his country France, which kept him on the sidelines during the recent institutional negotiations. Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos also stated recently that the reflection group will present its report during the 17-18 June EU summit, during the Spanish presidency.

June will also mark Spain’s 25 years from the signing of its Accession Treaty and has benefited enormously from membership in the European Union.

unnamed EU sources told reporters that the group’s president Felipe González was bitter about the fact that EU leaders had not entrusted him to dwell on the future boundaries of Europe by 2030. France in particular was opposed to this because of the uncertainty of Turkey’s current relationship with the EU, the sources added.