Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez says the European Union should be more self-sufficient

SPAIN Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wants the European Union to stop relying on imported energy, food and microchip technology.

He says lessons must be learned from the covid pandemic and the year-long war in Ukraine.

Sánchez spoke in Madrid on Monday to discuss his political priorities before Spain takes over the six-month rotating presidency of the EU council in July.

The shortages caused by the dependence on non-EU countries reveals “a serious threat to the competitiveness of our companies or to the safety and well-being of our fellow citizens”, said Sánchez

The Prime Minister used Covid microchips and PPE equipment imported from Asia as examples during the Covid pandemic, along with the disruption to Russian gas and grain imports caused by the Ukraine war.

The solution, he added, was to ‘re-industrialise Europe’ and ‘regain jobs and strategic skills that we should never have lost’.

Sánchez emphasized that the focus would not be on traditional heavy manufacturing but on ‘digitization or ecological transition’.

He referred to the low manufacturing rate of solar panels in the 27 EU member states.

Sánchez also announced a joint research project with EU countries that would look at “strategic vulnerabilities” in the bloc’s energy, food, health and technology supply chains.