CAMPUS FAES 2024 THE RENEWAL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

MEP Javier Zarzalejos took part in a new edition of the FAES Campus 2024 from 23 to 26 September. During the opening session, Zarzalejos stated that FAES Foundation ‘wants to strengthen our role and position as one of the references in the public debate in our country’. ‘We aspire to strengthen dialogue and exchange between politics, civil society, academia and opinion, and we remain committed to making freedom our commitment in order to provide ideas and ways in which our society and our institutions can move forward effectively in the midst of the problems that challenge us’.

The MEP also took part in the round table discussion The crisis of the rule of law together with Roberto Blanco Valdés, Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Santiago de Compostela, moderated by the lawyer and writer, Vicente de la Quintana. Among their conclusions, they stressed that the rule of law is a premise for Europe to have a future; the rule of law is an ideal that is never fully achieved; Spain is a state of law, but we must be concerned about its state of health; the attack on the rule of law is one of the greatest concerns of Spanish citizens, and the defence of the rule of law is the responsibility of all citizens.

During the second day, Zarzalejos participated in the presentation of the Save the Children-FAES report on child poverty, together with Andrés Conde, executive director of Save the Children, and moderated by Miguel Marín, managing partner of AEI.

Spain is one of the European countries with the highest levels of child poverty. One in three children live at risk of poverty and social exclusion and more than one million are below the severe poverty line. ‘The situation of child poverty in Spain is unacceptable. We have to build a social and political consensus to tackle this problem with public policies that work’, said Zarzalejos.

FAES and Save the Children presented ‘Reflections on child poverty in Spain: general overview and public policy guidelines’, a report born from the need to address a real problem, leaving aside ideological considerations and biased interpretations.

Zarzalejos also attended the closing ceremony of the Campus, which was attended by the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, the President of the Partido Popular, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and the former Prime Minister of Spain and President of FAES Foundation, José María Aznar. The president-elect of Venezuela, Edmundo González, also attended the event.