At a decisive moment for transatlantic relations, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and the Secretary General of the European Union and External Action of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Lorena Elvira, will meet in Barcelona to discuss the future of the EU-Mercosur Agreement.
The meeting, organized by the Center for International Studies (CEI) in collaboration with the Ministry, will take place on May 14 and 15 at the Palau Macaya of the Fundació “la Caixa.”
Beyond the trade pact, the seminar ‘Agreement EU-Mercosur: from negotiation to action‘ will define the role of Spain and Catalonia in the new global economic architecture. With global supply chains transforming, this agreement represents a historic opportunity to strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy and consolidate its alliance with emerging powers in Latin America.
The inauguration will feature Lorena Elvira, Secretary General for the European Union and External Action of the Generalitat de Catalunya; Joaquim Llimona, director of the CEI, and Josep Ollé, director of the Observatory of the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation and the Palau Macaya.
Throughout the various sessions, the program brings together prominent international speakers such as Jordi Bacaria, Anna Ayuso, or José Luis García Galán, as well as institutional representatives from Mercosur countries, including Valeria Csukasi and Alberto Sborovsky. Experts and officials from the Spanish and European administration, such as Jordi Colgán, Juan Luis Gimeno, or Susanne Gratius, will also participate.
The meeting will also include a space dedicated to the impact of the agreement on the business fabric, with the participation of representatives from the private sector, and will analyze Spain’s role in the approval process of the agreement, in a closing session that will feature the intervention of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares.
The seminar will address the agreement from a multidimensional perspective, integrating not only the commercial dimension but also the political and strategic implications for both regions in a context of geopolitical transformations.