EU commissioners arrive in Madrid to discuss plans for Spain’s EU presidency #commissioners #arrive #Madrid #discuss #plans #Spains #presidency

MADRID (AP) — Commissioners of the European Union are meeting with the Spanish government to review Spain’s plans for its six-month Presidency of the EU Council.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and her team arrived Monday for the one-day meeting in Madrid.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez started the presidency Saturday with a lightning visit to Kyiv to underline the bloc’s support of Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion.

Ukrainian State Emergency Service firefighters put out a fire at a house destroyed in a Russian shelling, in a residential neighbourhood, in Kherson, Ukraine, Saturday, July 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukrainian officials have reported three people killed and 17 others wounded from Russian shelling in the country’s east and south.

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrives for an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, June 29, 2023. European leaders meet for a two-day summit to discuss Ukraine, migration and the economy. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has started Spain’s six-month presidency of the European Union with a lightning visit to Kyiv to underline the bloc’s support of Ukraine in the face of the invasion by Russia.

FILE - Migrants run on Spanish soil after crossing the fences separating the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco in Melilla, Spain, on June 24, 2022. Rights groups on Friday denounced a lack of justice and transparency over the deaths of 37 migrants on June 24 last year as they attempted to cross the border from Morocco into the Spanish exclave of Melilla. (AP Photo/Javier Bernardo)

Rights groups have denounced a lack of justice and transparency over the deaths of at least 37 migrants in June 2022 as they attempted to cross the border from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Melilla.

FILE - A friar walks in front of the Valle de los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen) mausoleum on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain, on Oct. 13, 2019. Initial forensic work has begun on Monday June 12, 2023 to try to exhume the bodies of 128 victims of late dictator Francisco Franco's forces who are among tens of thousands of people buried anonymously in the Valle de Cuelgamuros. mausoleum, formerly known as the Valle de los Caídos, or Valley of the Fallen. The exhumations, if successful, will be the first for victims under Spain's historical memory law that is aimed at making reparations to the victims. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)

Initial forensic work has begun to try to exhume the bodies of 128 victims of late dictator Francisco Franco’s forces who are among tens of thousands of people buried anonymously in the Valle de Cuelgamuros mausoleum, formerly known as the Valle de los Caídos, or Valley of the Fallen.

Continued support for Ukraine, a migration pact, EU relations with Latin America and the reindustrialization of Europe are among Spain’s priorities for the six-month presidency.

The visit by the College of Commissioners was initially scheduled for July 6-7, but was brought forward so as not to take place in the middle of the campaign for Spain’s general elections on July 23.

The Spanish government maintains the elections will not have an impact on the objectives or agenda of the presidency.

After the meeting, Sánchez and Von der Leyen were to hold a press conference, and then the commissioners will go to the nearby Royal Palace, where they will be received by King Felipe VI.

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