After a day at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, I'm visiting Madrid today to meet my new counterparts in the Spanish government following elections in March, which for the first time has more women than men. (Yes - the new Spanish government which Italy's new Prime Minister for the third time, Silvio Berlusconi, reportedly described as "too pink" and said the women would be "difficult to lead"!) Despite 9 of the 17 new Cabinet Ministers being women, my meetings are both with male Ministers - Angel Lossado, the new Deputy Foreign Minister, and Diego Lopez Garrido, the new Europe Minister.
As well as having discussions about issues affecting the UK and Spain together (like purchasing property in Spain), and those that we're interested in on an EU and international level (like climate change and Kosovo), I'm speaking at an event looking at the movement of people into the EU, from Africa for example. This is the second in a series of seminars I kicked off in London on Monday, looking at a whole range of issues that matter to people living in the EU. And thinking about migration in Madrid makes sense - in the last 10 years Spain has warmly welcomed hundreds of thousands of migrants who successfully live and work in the country. There are now an estimated 4.5 million migrants in Spain - more than 10% of the population. Spain is definitely one of the countries to be talking to for expertise on what works, and to explore where the EU should focus its resources and cooperation.
Posted at 16:38 23 April 2008 by Jim Murphy | Comments[0]
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