Paella and Moussaka (Spain - Hellas Summit)
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Palacio de la Moncloa
29th July 2022It was a nice afternoon in Madrid, with 36ºC in what seemed to be one of the hottest days of July so far. The Spanish President, Jesús Aguilar, was at first working in his office waiting for today's guest, the Hellasian President Alexandros Panagiotopoulos. Hellas had just joined the European Union, and even if both countries had a nice relationship, Aguilar thought it would be a nice idea to have them improved now that Hellas had gone a step further on their foreign policy.
Summits usually took place during mornings, because the temperature in the summer is way nicer at that time of the day, unless the whole country underwent a heatwave. However, the first and last Cabinet Meeting of the political year had to take place that Friday, and Jesús Aguilar needed to give a press conference about his thoughts on it and also to review it. While his guest arrived, Aguilar was seated on the main hall of the Consejo de Ministros building, the Salón Tapiès, where the meeting would take place later on, enjoying the A/C.
One of his advisers appeared on the room: "Mr. President, what are you doing here? This room is reserved for the summit!", he inquired Jesús Aguilar, who seemed to be relaxed and was drinking some water. "Staying cool and fresh while Mr. Panagiotopoulos arrives. It's hot outside, I am not standing there for ages until the motorcade appears. Call me when they enter the complex", he concluded.
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Alexandros had just arrived to Madrid when he was informed that the Spanish president would meet him at the Palacio de la Moncloa instead of the Airport due to the High heat, And true it was a Hot day but having been raised in the beaches of Alexandria he was more than used to the heat although he recognized that it might be a bit much to stay long on the outside, so he took the usual motorcade offered to him and not long after he was arriving to the Palace, the only thing left was for the President to come out to greet him.
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"Mr. Panagiotopoulos is here, Mr. President", said María José, the President's secretary, after she was informed about the arrival of the Hellasian delegation to the Palacio de la Moncloa. The President stood up, a member of the staff came into the room and made it look like nobody had been there just a few seconds before and, on time, he appeared on the door of the Consejo de Ministros building. Alexandros' car door opened, and both leaders shook their hands while the press took some photos: "Mr. Panagiotopoulos, nice to see you", the Spanish President exclaimed.
Both proceeded into the Salón Tapiès, and just after entering the building both leaders could feel the cool temperature of the building: "I sometimes thank the President that decided to install the A/C, whoever that was", commented Aguilar on their way to the hall. The press took some extra picures while both leaders had a slight generic chat, and when the President thanked them, they left the room and the doors closed, leaving the leaders alone with a glass of water for each one.
"Welcome back to Spain, Mr. Panagiotopoulos! -Aguilar said, smiling- It is nice to see you again, it has been a long time since the last one, hasn't it? Well anyway, how has your journey been? Would you like something to eat or drink? If not, we can just proceed to speak about the summit agenda we have planned", said the President to start the summit.
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"Ah Mr Aguilar, This has been a very warm welcome both literally and figurately, I must admit is nice being on a rather colder place with this heat, And i dont know what you are talking about, this is really my first time here, i was elected just some months ago, I think you must be thinking about My father, Alexios Panagiotopoulos, He has been here before and sadly not with me, Anyways, as you said, we should begin with the real reason of our meeting.
Would you like to propose anything first? I would rather if you began this part of the summit. -
"Oh, I am sorry Mr. Panagiotopoulos, one of my advisers told me you were the same guy. I am pretty embarrased, I hope you can forgive me", the President said, visibly embarrased. Someone would surely be fired that night, either the adviser that told the President they were the same person, or the one that told the information to the adviser. Whoever that was, he was an incompetent, and had to be fired.
Aguilar decided to move on fast and tried to leave that silly mistake behind: "I would like to start with trade, if that is no inconvenience for you. Spain is looking for a free trade deal with Hellas, with checks being performed only to assure no health outbreaks take place and to avoid trafficking between our nations. Spain is also very interested on Hellenic gas, and that is why we would like to become one of your major trade partners. I have been thinking about the possibility of building a gas pipeline between us, funded equally by both countries. What are your thoughts?", he asked.
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Ah dont worry we all mess up sometimes, the important thing is what we do after that, Remember.
Well, i can certainly agree to that, that was one of my goals coming here Spain being our neighbor and partner in the Mediterranean was always crucial in the development of Hellas and its adaptation into the modern era so a Free Trade agreement was the next obvious step in our relations, And yes i do think we could build a pipe line between our countries although we would like for Spain to finance half of the costs and to work in partnership with our construction teams as the Hellenic gas infraestructure is very critical to our energy sector as of now but we are currently working on that, Now is there anything else you wanna add?.
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"Of course, Spain is ready to fund half of the costs and to work in partnership with the Hellenic construction team in order to get the gas pipeline operative as soon as possible. Some estimates are speaking of a few months, so I guess the sooner we start, the sooner we will end!", Aguilar said, smiling.
"I would like to know your Government's position on a free travel agreement with Spain", Aguilar commented. Hellas was strategic when it came to travel, not only because they allowed the Eurorail to reach Inquista or other destinations through their territory, but also because they were a Spanish neighbour.
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We would very much interested, We could start by removing entering visa requirements and easing of work permits in both of our nations, Well, is there anything else you wanna ask for?
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The Spanish President gave a look to his agenda, where he had noted the topics he wanted to discuss with his Hellenic counterpart. Trade, gas and travel had been discussed. But he had forgotten some topics that he wanted Mr. Panagiotopoulos to know about. A few months ago, Inquista and Spain, alongside Gania, had started the Union for the Mediterranean, but the thing did not go as expected because Gania had not been present at all on the summit: they were actually there, but said nothing. Now that Gania had left the European Union and that one of Spain's neighbours had joined, it was a great chance to revive the Union's project.
"I do not know if you have heard about the Union of the Mediterranean, Mr. Panagiotopoulos. The main goal of this 'alliance', if it can be considered as such, is protecting and pointing out the value the Mediterranean way of life has not just for the countries which are heavily dependant on it, but also for the whole of the European Union. We actually had a summit, but the thing did not go as planned because one of the members remained silent during the entire summit, which led both the Inquistan and Spanish delegations to confussion. Would Hellas be interested in joining?"
The Kingdom of Spain