Last Friday, in Brussels, the 27 EU leaders received an unusual order.
The Presidency of the Council explained to them that they had to leave their mobile phones outside the room.
The usual thing is to have them on top, so that they can connect with their advisors and stay on top of everything.
The reason was special.
The 27 had to have a deep strategic debate on China, and the presidency feared that they could be spied on.
The conclusion of that debate was very clear: China is the next big problem for the EU, after Russia.
“China is a rival, a competitor, we must diversify our relations by building bridges with Africa and Latin America”, summed up Pedro Sánchez.
The decision of that European Council was clear: you cannot depend so much on China,
In this context, Pedro Sánchez began a two-day trip to Kenya and South Africa on Wednesday, two very relevant African countries, especially the latter, to work on this line of improving the entry of Spain and the EU into this key continent. .
By 2050, Africa's population will have doubled: from 1.2 billion people to 2.4 billion, according to expert calculations.
Half of them will be less than 25 years old.
It is a young continent, which is growing at a fast pace in many areas and, although it continues to suffer from dramatic problems of poverty, it is generating a large middle class in some leading countries and enormous business opportunities for which Chinese companies compete with European and from USA.
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Some Spanish businessmen who travel with Sánchez on the official plane and have been doing business in Africa for many years believe that this is the key moment in which the EU and Spain, with international companies well recognized on the continent, can compete with the Chinese, that do not have such a good reputation for some projects that have become major fiascoes.
Sánchez, who postponed this trip when he had organized it a year ago due to the operation that the Government had to launch to evacuate the Spanish military from Kabul and all the Afghan collaborators of the Spanish, is especially interested in giving a gesture of support Spanish companies and also show that Spain is strategically very interested in Africa.
Sánchez is multiplying his international agenda to also prepare for the peak moment of his Government, which will come with the Spanish presidency of the EU in the second half of 2023. And there, Africa and Latin America will be priorities as alternatives to China, with which each time relations are further complicated by its indirect support for Russia, but above all by its desire to control world trade and occupy more and more spaces,
Africa has almost everything that European industry needs for its production, but the EU is also interested in achieving economic growth in African countries to prevent migratory pressure from growing uncontrollably in the face of the famine and war crises that several countries are experiencing .
Sánchez tries to get ahead of other countries with a visit to Kenya that comes when the new president, William Ruto, has just taken office, to the point that he has not even named his government yet.
Sánchez will thus be the first European to visit Ruto.
Spanish companies benefit a lot from this type of trip, because around these official visits businesses that have been working for a long time are closed or pending payments, contracts or authorizations are unblocked.
President Pedro Sánchez, in the center, accompanied by the Minister of Industry, Reyes Maroto, during breakfast with representatives of Spanish companies based in Kenya, this Wednesday in Nairobi, in an image distributed by La Moncloa.Borja Puig de la Bellacasa (pool)
In a joint appearance with Sánchez, Ruto stressed that he is the first president to visit him and thanked his "good brother Pedro Sánchez" for this gesture.
“Kenya will be the gateway for Spain to expand its presence in Africa.
We want to learn from you how to consolidate our market.
The future of Africa passes through a common market like the European one.
This visit confirms the excellent relations.
There are Spanish companies interested in sectors such as agriculture, water treatment, tourism, renewable energy”, summarized Ruto.
“Kenya is a priority country in Spanish foreign policy, one of the most stable democracies in the region, and that is why many Spanish companies that are world leaders in their sector see Kenya as a great opportunity”, concluded Sánchez,
Sánchez will also take advantage of the trip to vindicate his multilateral vision and his defense of the role of the UN.
In fact, the president will visit the UN headquarters in Nairobi, the only large operational base he has in the southern hemisphere, and will symbolically plant a tree there.
In South Africa, a key country in the area, Sánchez will also visit the prison where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years in his fight against apartheid.
In South Africa he will also meet with the president, Ciryl Ramaphosa.
The Spanish companies that accompany him have a special interest in winning contracts in sectors such as infrastructure, renewable energy or the agri-food industry.
The Minister of Industry, Reyes Maroto, travels with Sánchez with the idea of supporting Spanish companies.
While looking for new business for Spanish companies in Africa, both are very aware of a negotiation where the Executive has a lot at stake: the one it is having with the Volkswagen group to auction off the investment of 3,000 million euros in a huge electric battery factory in Sagunto (Valencia).
The German company threatened to cancel the investment if the public contribution was not increased with money from European funds, which was 400 million and with the renegotiation it could reach almost 700, according to Executive sources.
The Government is working to convince Volkswagen and no one from Sánchez's team that accompanies him on the trip, who are the ones on top of this type of issue,
The possibility of a rupture is raised that would suppose a huge fiasco in the main investment around the European funds.
On the contrary, from La Moncloa they point out that there will be more relevant investment announcements in the coming months and no cancellations, although the negotiation with Volkswagen is complex due to the limitations that the European Commission places on public aid in investments like this.
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