EUROPEAN DIALOGUES’ DAY IN BILBAO
MEP Javier Zarzalejos, participated last Saturday, January 21 in the day ‘European Dialogues’, organized by the Parliamentary Group of the European People’s Party and the Basque People’s Party, which was held at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao, and addressed current issues for the Basque Country as the European economic situation, the arrival of Next Generation funds and the energy challenge.
The Basque MEP assured that “Europe has historically been the great victim of nationalism. Now it has to be its antidote if we want the European project to continue and be strengthened because nationalism is not diversity, it is its negation”.
He also described the day as “an initiative to bring citizens and public opinion closer to the activity of the European Union and the importance of its actions”. In his opinion, “those elected by the citizens have to be accountable for what we do and this is one way of doing it”.
For Zarzalejos, the issues raised at the conference “have a special impact on the Basque economy, for its future competitiveness, growth and employment in an environment of uncertainty and greater instability”.
“The European Union is having to face successive crises and in each one of them its role is strengthened as the body in which Europeans have to act together to face the challenges that exceed national capacities,” said the MEP.
The MEPs Pilar del Castillo, Isabel Benjumea and José Manuela García Margallo also participated in the conference, together with experts and members of the Basque People’s Party.
Three round tables were held: The European economy in the European and international context, Next Generation Funds: the challenge of economic recovery and modernization and Keys to the energy future.