The State Secretary for the European Union, Juan González-Barba, made a working trip to Toledo to address, with institutions in Castile-La Mancha, current affairs at an EU level that affect the region. As well as measures to tackle the demographic challenge and rural depopulation, they also discussed such other important issues as the European health response to the pandemic, the current negotiations of the new Common Agricultural Policy, the Recovery Plan, the extension of European educational content in secondary education and the preparations for the Conference on the Future of Europe.
As well as meeting with the President of the Regional Government of Castile-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, and with the Regional Vice-President, José Luis Martínez Guijarro, the institutional visit by Juan González Barba included meetings with the Mayor of Toledo, Milagros Tolón, to hear municipal concerns at a European level and with the parliamentary spokespersons of the Regional Parliament of Castile-La Mancha, to listen to the positions of all the regional parliamentary groups on European affairs.
Juan González-Barba conveyed to his opposite numbers the special importance of the regional governments taking part in Spain’s different lines of action before the EU. Accordingly, the Government of Spain is working at an EU level in coordination with different regional governments to ensure that the demographic challenge is increasingly taken into account by EU institutions when designing policies in such areas as the regional funds and the State aid regimes, so that national and regional governments can more strongly support those regions that face specific obstacles in such areas as infrastructures, telecommunications and public services. The State secretary also argued that rural depopulation should be an important point on the agenda of the Conference on the Future of Europe.
The State secretary also highlighted that the EU Next Generation funds provide a great opportunity to modernise the economic model of Castile-La Mancha, stepping up the commitment to sustainability and digitalisation. In the case of Castile-La Mancha, he stressed the importance and underlined the good results of the close cooperation between Central Government and the regional governments in negotiating a new model of the CAP that will be applied over the period 2023-2027.
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