The President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès i Garcia, welcomed this morning at the Palau de la Generalitat the Vice President of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, with whom he had a very cordial meeting where they discussed the Catalan projects that are being carried out in term with community funds, including the European chip, green hydrogen, or others related to the health industry and the audiovisual hub.

The meeting, which lasted an hour, also served to analyze the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and Schinas wanted to highlight the effort that Catalonia is making in the reception of Ukrainian refugees. Various other current issues have also been addressed.

This meeting strengthens the Catalan Executive’s relations with the community, Catalonia’s commitment to Europe and its institutions, and is a new step forward in intensifying working meetings with the Commission.

This meeting comes after the head of government's conversation last May with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Apart from that, Aragonès also participated in the visit of the Commissariat of Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, in the Supercomputing Center of Barcelona, together with the ministers of Foreign Action and Open Government and Research and Universities, Victoria Alsina and Gemma Geis.

Councilor Alsina also met in Brussels this January with the Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreria, as part of a meeting with members of the Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion.

The last time a Vice-President of the European Commission visited the Palau de la Generalitat was in 2011 and the last official meeting with a commissioner in Palau was in 2015. Subsequently, other meetings with commissioners have been held in other locations.