Spanish government officials will take part in ministerial conferences in France and Spain as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed at a joint gathering in Barcelona on Thursday. Despite recent tensions on EU issues such as the Midcat gas pipeline, both leaders committed to deepening their collaboration at a particularly trying time for Europe.

Spain will preside over the European Council in the latter part of 2023, a new opportunity to strengthen relations between Madrid and other EU capitals.

Among a variety of fresh initiatives to bolster a modernized “Franco-Spanish axis”, ministers of both countries will take part in cabinet meetings in Paris and Madrid at least once every three months and on a rotating basis. To boost cooperation, other structured dialogues may be created that bring together one or more ministries, depending on the matters to be addressed and within the boundaries of their particular responsibilities.

The Treaty signed at the Barcelona summit is the second of its kind that Spain has signed with another EU country. The first was concluded with Portugal in 2021. Unlike the Treaty signed with France, the arrangement with Lisbon does not involve Spanish ministers participating in sessions of the Portuguese government, and vice versa.

What's the significance of this treaty? For Sánchez, the deal means joining the ranks of Germany and Italy, the only other two countries that have such a treaty with France. Macron, meanwhile, strengthens France’s pivotal role in Europe. Plus, Paris will now have ambitious bilateral treaties with its three main neighbors.

Germany, France, Italy and Spain are the EU’s biggest economies and most populous countries. And France, in the middle, is no longer just the geographical but also the political link between all of them.