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Spain Agrees Common Front With Macron as EU Horsetrading Starts

Spain Agrees Common Front With Macron as EU Horsetrading Starts

(Bloomberg) -- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to work together closely as negotiations begin in earnest over the next European Commission, a Spanish official said.

At a dinner on Monday in Paris, the two leaders agreed to push for social democrats and liberals to be included among the European Union’s senior officials after the conservative European People’s Party saw its presence diminished in Sunday’s elections for the EU Parliament, the official said.

The May 26 ballot saw the main center-right and center-left alliances fall short of a majority for the first time since direct elections began 40 years ago while the Liberals tied to Macron and the Greens posted the biggest gains.

Spain Agrees Common Front With Macron as EU Horsetrading Starts

Macron’s party lost in France to Marine Le Pen’s nationalist movement by less than a percentage point. Sanchez’s Socialists won 20 of the 54 seats available in Spain to become the biggest national delegation within the center-left alliance.

EU leaders will meet Tuesday evening in Brussels to begin discussions on top jobs, which include not just the leadership of the European Commission but also the European Central Bank and the EU leaders’ council.

Before then Macron and Sanchez will have lunch with Belgium’s Charles Michel, Mark Rutte of the Netherlands and Antonio Costa of Portugal. Both will then have separate bilateral meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Spain Agrees Common Front With Macron as EU Horsetrading Starts

To contact the reporter on this story: Charles Penty in Madrid at cpenty@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Ben Sills, Jerrold Colten

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