Spain and Portugal meet to tie up loose ends on their border

At 1,200 kilometres long, Europe's oldest border is on the Iberian Peninsula and is rather forgotten. But as of this weekend, the Portuguese and Spanish governments have made a U-turn in the design of this cross-border area, breathing life into it and proposing various packages of measures for the development of the area and the people who live there.

The Iberian Summit between Spain and Portugal has served to exchange proposals and agreements that seek to revive the relationship between the two neighbouring countries, especially across the Iberian border. Both the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, and the Portuguese prime minister, Antonio Acosta, defined the first global strategy for border development at the 31st Iberian Summit in Guarda.

The Iberian peninsula has a very high political and geostrategic value. The leaders of both countries are aware of these characteristics and, during the summit, undertook to promote joint projects in sensitive fields such as energy and tourism.
Border development has been the major commitment of the Spanish heads of government, who were determined to recover a region marked by low density and lack of job opportunities. A strategy that "does not remain vague or abstract", explained Mr Sánchez, but advances concrete measures for the La Raya territories, 1,000 kilometres from Europe's oldest border.

The two countries are thus putting into practice a commitment made at the 2018 summit in Valladolid, which includes measures to promote activity and development and to guarantee public services and equal opportunities in these areas. For the Portuguese Prime Minister, it is great news to make progress in transforming the "wall" that has separated the two countries into a meeting and development point.

The Fourth Vice-president and Minister for Economic Transition of the Spanish Government, Teresa Ribera, underlined the commitment of both countries to implement or begin in less than a year all the measures included in the strategy to reactivate border activities.

Turning the border into a "more prosperous area in which to live and work" is the objective of the strategy, as the Portuguese Minister for Cohesion, Ana Abrunhosa, stressed in the presentation.

The Common Strategy for Cross-border Development has been conceived as a flexible and fundamental tool for the development of cross-border regions. According to Abrunhosa, the strategy "aims to counteract the demographic trend and combat the isolation of all these territories". Portugal is also committed to providing the necessary financial and administrative resources.

Spain also made these commitments through Mr Ribera, who stressed that the Spanish-Portuguese border is an "extraordinarily rich" area in terms of nature, biodiversity and has a great capacity for exploitation and investment, as well as agri-food resources, culture and heritage.

The future of the common border, which is more than 1 200 kilometres long and one of the oldest in Europe, lies in guaranteeing equal opportunities for the region, promoting activity and encouraging repopulation. A global proposal that will benefit 145 municipalities and 1.6 million people in Portugal - 62% of the country's surface area - and 3.3 million inhabitants in 1 231 municipalities in Spain - 17% of the surface area of Spain.

The plan includes basic areas focusing on mobility, security, infrastructure and connectivity, joint management of basic services, economic development, territorial innovation and, finally, the areas of energy, the environment, urban centres and energy.

During the Iberian Summit they completely ruled out a further closure of the common land border in order to halt the progress of the COVID-19.

"We are not contemplating a border closure at all," said Pedro Sánchez at a joint press conference with Costa. Sánchez insisted that "any decision taken will be agreed with the Portuguese government".

António Costa, for his part, described the organisation of the closure of the common border between March and July as "exemplary", but insisted that it will not be blocked again because "the situation is different".

The Portuguese Prime Minister avoided assessing the evolution of the pandemic in Spain, stressing that "this is not the time to judge, it is a time to support, help, show solidarity, and try to always do our best because we are fighting an enemy we do not know".

The Iberian leaders have also agreed to seek joint projects from both countries that can be financed with European recovery funds.

The two leaders exchanged details of their respective recovery plans in those areas where synergies exist. Following this exchange, both have decided to work on identifying strategic joint projects that can be included in the recovery plans, to be financed with European funds.

The development of hydrogen as a clean energy source, the battery value chain, and the development of 5G and satellites are among the areas in which the two leaders have agreed to explore joint projects. They have also addressed the development of common infrastructures, both rail and road.

Spain and Portugal today called for a coordinated response from the European Union (EU) in the fight against Covid-19 to avoid "indiscriminate and disproportionate measures that have a strong impact on tourism activity".

The response has been presented in a document with 75 points that reflect the will of both countries to promote bilateral cooperation and strengthen joint positions before the Community block on sensitive issues, such as the urgency of implementing the EU recovery fund.

The agreement devotes special attention to a "coordinated" response from Brussels in the fight against the pandemic that "preserves the integrity of the Schengen Area and considers it essential to avoid indiscriminate and disproportionate measures that have a strong impact on tourism activity".

Tourism, one of the driving forces behind the economies of both countries, has also been one of the sectors most affected by the crisis. Aware of the need to recover activity, the governments of Portugal and Spain are committed to promoting the "Iberian Market" as a single destination in the face of the markets of origin.

In terms of migration, they are committed to the mixed surveillance of the common border and the coasts and are calling for a "multilateral" response from the EU that includes cooperation and dialogue with countries of origin and transit and the creation of legal migration corridors.

At the end of the summit, Spain and Portugal argued that their languages could compete with English. During the summit, the study entitled 'The international projection of Spanish and Portuguese: the potential of linguistic proximity', produced by the Cervantes and Camoes institutes, was presented.

The results of the research indicate that, together, the Spanish and Portuguese languages are today closely approaching the world linguistic leadership of English in almost all the parameters considered, as explained by the Spanish government.

Throughout the day on Saturday, there was an exchange of opinions and proposals that were received with satisfaction and energy. From now on, Spanish-Portuguese relations and, above all, cross-border activities will be easier and more accessible thanks to the measures to be implemented.