Profession of faith by a staunch Europeanist

This is how he put it himself in his informal presentation in the Spanish capital, at a breakfast meeting of the Nueva Economía Fórum, chaired by José Luis Rodríguez from León, where it is now accepted that if you are not invited to attend, you are a nobody in politics, economics, culture, the media or healthcare.

At a time when the European Union is suffering the greatest attacks from its former great ally, Calleja made a passionate defence of it, listing many of the areas in which not only Spain but the whole of Europe has undergone a fundamental transformation. He stressed that "Spain's exports of goods increased from €12.6 billion in 1986 (the date of Spain's accession) to €141.5 billion in 2024.

More than 200,000 Spaniards have studied in other EU countries thanks to the Erasmus+ programme between 2021 and 2024. More than 500,000 farmers receive support from European agricultural policy every year. Since 1986, Spanish researchers have received more than €17 billion in funding from Horizon Europe, support that has helped 30,000 researchers carry out their projects, with direct benefits for the whole of Europe.

Contrary to the pessimists, Daniel Calleja asserts that "the European budget has made everyday life easier for millions of Spaniards. The euro is undoubtedly the world's second reserve currency, while the EU is the leading commercial power and development aid provider. Since 1986, our country has received more than €150 billion in cohesion funds. Also, in the last forty years, more than seven million households have gained access to broadband thanks to EU regional funds, thus opening up new possibilities for training and employment. 

European solidarity, in his view, has been particularly evident in times of great adversity. Remember the NextGenerationEU funds, which have supported both the recovery from the pandemic and the mitigation of the consequences of the terrible fires that ravage our country every summer. They have also contributed almost €3 billion to the reconstruction of the area devastated by the devastating storm on 29 October 2024.

Calleja also highlighted Spain's contribution to the transformation of the European Community, of which it became a member. It led the way at key moments in important policies such as the introduction of European citizenship, the creation of the Cohesion Fund, equality and inclusion policies, the digitalisation agenda and the ecological transition, as well as European programmes such as Galileo and Copernicus, and support for innovation and SMEs.

He also emphasised how "our fraternal ties with other continents, many of them the result of a shared history, culture and language, have enriched Europe and fostered new trade partnerships with Latin America and the Mediterranean.

Having explained this exuberant recent past, the EC representative in Spain addressed the challenges now facing Europe, which are very different from those of forty years ago. After highlighting that the proliferation of conflicts means that Europe must rethink its place and role on the international stage, he pointed out some key figures: Europe represents 6% of the world's population, but this modest number of people is capable of generating a fifth of the world's wealth (18% of GDP), public spending that accounts for 48% of global GDP and investment of 2.2% in R&D. However, he warned that our investment in defence must increase from a very modest 1.5%. 

He acknowledged, however, that with 21% of the European population over the age of 65, a figure that will rise to 31% by 2050, ‘the viability of the European model is not guaranteed’. He recalled Emmanuel Macron's famous phrase: ‘Europe is mortal’, to emphasise that "we cannot continue to depend on the US for our defence, on Russia for fossil fuel energy, and on China for our industry. A change of model is urgently needed to strengthen our strategic autonomy and our political, economic, industrial and military sovereignty. And we do not have much time, so we must accelerate our integration process over the next five years." 

In the same vein, Daniel Calleja supported the rapid strengthening of our competitiveness, as advocated by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. We must also close the growing innovation gap in the digital sphere and do so in a European way; unleash the full potential of the single market by 2028 in capital, energy, services and telecommunications; and achieve a decarbonised economy, leading the clean transition efforts on a global scale.

She acknowledged that "without private funding, it will be impossible to address all the investment needs that Europe must meet in order to maintain or gain ground against other global players. And he did not shy away from a slight dig: ‘European citizens' savings are greater than those of US households, but €300 billion of those savings leave Europe for the United States every year...’ However, he praised the EU's new Economic Security Strategy, in a world where everything is becoming a weapon.

He could not ignore the great challenge of our time: ensuring our collective security in a difficult international context. To this end, he stressed that ‘our security depends, first and foremost, on that of Ukraine, to which the EU and its Member States have already contributed €187.3 billion’.

For Daniel Calleja, addressing all these challenges must be accompanied by a firm commitment to preserving the European social model and not forgetting the heart of so many of its policies: the desire to achieve greater social, territorial and economic cohesion. In this regard, he recalled that the primary sector plays a decisive role in preserving European values and way of life. As a sign of the current EC's interest in this regard, the proposed new long-term EU budget sets aside a fixed amount – more than €300 billion – to secure farmers' incomes and protect them from the risk of inflation.

Finally, the pressing issue of housing was also addressed by Calleja, who announced that before the end of the year there would be ‘the first European housing plan to tackle the problem of our young people being forced to give up their professional dreams or postpone their desire to start a family due to the prohibitive cost of housing in so many parts of Europe, a serious problem that we are well aware of in Spain’.

In this quick but comprehensive review, the new EC director in Spain welcomed the recently approved European Democracy Shield, which aims to boost Europe's capacity to counter information manipulation and disinformation; strengthen our institutions; protect free elections and independent media; and ensure that Europeans can exercise their rights and participate in democratic life.

And a resounding conclusion: ‘There is nothing more important than defending the founding values of the EU because they are part of our genetic code: freedom, the rule of law, solidarity, human dignity and fundamental rights. And we will do so through an arsenal of instruments: judicial proceedings, the conditionality of European funds and the annual report on the rule of law.’