PARIS — France’s Emmanuel Macron makes his first visit as president to Spain and Portugal, starting on Thursday, in his push to overhaul the EU, with the two southern allies seeking French help to connect their energy grids to Europe. Macron will meet first with Spain’s new Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who travelled to Paris soon after coming to power in June. The visit was seen as a sign of Sanchez’s intention to play a bigger role in European affairs compared with his predecessor Mariano Rajoy. A source in Macron’s office hailed Sanchez’s desire to “be more involved in European matters,” at a time when Paris faces resistance to its EU reform blueprint from other countries, not least Germany. The two men, both ambitious leaders in their 40s, “have a very close relationship,” the source said, adding there was “nearly total convergence” on their goals for the eurozone. In particular, Macron is trying to win support for a eurozone budget, which he sees as a symbolic step towards closer European integration. Spain and Portugal have first-hand experience of such solidarity, having both received multi-billion-euro rescue packages in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Madrid and Paris are also broadly aligned on how to handle the thousands of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe, an influx that has bolstered populist parties. Both countries support the creation of “disembarkation platforms” outside the bloc to process refugee applications. Spain has seen a surge in migrant arrivals in recent weeks as Italy’s… [Read full story]
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