Ukraine’s aspiration to join the EU will be one of the priorities of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Saturday on a visit to Kyiv.
“Spain reaffirms its commitment to work with Ukraine as it makes progress in meeting the conditions in its EU accession,” according to a joint statement by Sanchez and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy issued on Saturday.
Sanchez arrived in Kyiv on Saturday morning to meet the Ukrainian leader for what was meant to be a highly symbolic visit, taking place as Spain officially takes over the reins of the presidency of the Council for the next six months.
“The war in Ukraine will be one of the great priorities of our presidency, with the focus being on guaranteeing the unity among all member states,” Sanchez said at Friday’s European Council in Brussels.
It’s yet to be seen, however, whether Sanchez will remain in power after elections scheduled for July 23, with recent polls released by El Mundo newspaper showing that Spain’s conservative People’s Party (PP) is improving its chances to control the lower house of the parliament.
According to the latest poll, the PP could get up to 143 seats of the 350-member lower house, while Sanchez’s Socialist Workers’ Party is expected to get up to 105 seats. With the PP likely to form an alliance with far-right Vox, the poll predicts the right-wing coalition to be on track to score an absolute majority, which would require a minimum of 176 seats.
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, imposed 10-year-long sanctions on nearly 200 individuals — mostly Russians — and 291 businesses, Russian news agency TASS reported Saturday. Sanctions against legal entities targeted not only Russian, but also Belarusian, Georgian and Kazakh companies accused of either maintaining or restoring ties with Moscow.