The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, today defended a more open European Union to Latin America during the opening ceremony of the 30th Ibero-American Summit in Madrid.
© Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images
04/11/2026
by
Lusa
O prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, today asked for a “more open” European Union to Latin America at the opening ceremony of the 30th Ibero-American Summit in Madrid by Thursday.
“Europe has to look beyond its borders, it has to expand its alliances and make new friends besides taking care of those it already has,” said Sánchez.
“ I am convinced that there is no other region of the world with which Europe has as much reason to understand itself as with the Ibero-American community,” he added.
The leader of the Spanish Government considered that in addition to cultural, historical, economic and affective links, there are “mainly values” that the EU and the Ibero-American community can “defend together”, such as “democracy, human rights, peace, sustainable development, the international order based on rules and a law that belongs to everyone, not the strongest.”.
“A Europe more open to Latin America and the Caribbean will undoubtedly be a stronger Europe. And a Latin America and a Caribbean more open to Europe will also be stronger, with more opportunities and greater capacity for influence,” he said.
Referring to the recent EU alliance with Canada, and addressing directly the President of the European Council, António Costa, present at the opening ceremony of the summit, Sánchez invited “the friends of Latin America and the Caribbean to follow this example”.
“May Latin America and the Caribbean close ties with Europe,” he added.
The leader of the Spanish Government said that “the time has come” for the links that unite both sides of the Atlantic to translate into “greater economic, political and diplomatic influence”, something that the Iberian American community needs, but also the world, at a time when multilateralism or international law is questioned, with “too many countries” closing down or reducing cooperation.
Pedro Sánchez spoke at the inaugural ceremony of the 30th Ibero-American Summit, at a gala at the Royal Theatre in Madrid, chaired by the Kings of Spain, Felipe VI and Letizia Ortiz.
The gala started with a minute of silence in memory of the victims of last week's railway accident in Spain, in which 69 people died.
The 22 countries of the Ibero-American community are represented at this summit, which ends on Thursday.
Portugal is represented by the President of the Republic, António José Seguro, and the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro.
Two former prime ministers of Portugal, António Costa and UN Secretary-General António Guterres, are also in Madrid as special guests of the summit.
Today's opening ceremony featured several musical moments, one of them starring Portuguese singer Carminho and Uruguayan musician Jorge Drexler.
The Ibero-American summits take place every two years and Portugal proposed to host the 2030s, which will follow the 2028s in Honduras.
The community consists of three European countries (Portugal, Spain and Andorra) and 19 Latin Americans (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba and the Dominican Republic).