The Aragonese MEP, Rosa Serrano, has highlighted the commitment and involvement of the PSOE to defend in Brussels that cross-border connections through the Aragonese Pyrenees should be a priority on the European agenda. She underlined this during her speech this Monday at the extraordinary summer course of the University of Zaragoza held in Jaca.
From this forum, Serrano explained that at the moment she is working "on a common front with the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine to address the delay in the reopening of Canfranc". She insisted that "Pyrenean connections with France through Aragon must be a European priority", and recalled, as an example, her meeting with the European Commissioner for Transport, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, where she demanded more resources in the next community budget for cross-border projects, specifically claiming the pending 33 kilometers in the French section of the Canfranc-Pau international line, as well as progress in the Central Pyrenean Crossing".
"From Brussels, Aragon is seen as a strategic territory, but also as a territory that has to fight so that its specificities are not diluted," stated Rosa Serrano. Therefore, she defended the need to promote policies that respond to challenges such as depopulation, improved connectivity, strengthening the industrial fabric, and the green transition.
The MEP also recalled that she is part of the European Parliament's Delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China. She pointed out that "the Government of Spain seeks to build more balanced relations with China that allow for the correction of trade imbalances and attract quality investment, defending value chains that generate employment, innovation, and wealth in our territories".
In this regard, she highlighted the favorable impact that good relations with China have for Aragon, especially in the automotive, fruit, and pork sectors, considered strategic for the Community. She mentioned the gigafactory for batteries from Sellantes and CATL in Figueruelas, the manufacturing of electric models like Leapmotor, and investments associated with components and batteries, which "demonstrate that Aragon can be a European hub for electric mobility if we know how to take good advantage of this relationship".
Serrano added that "it is also important for the pig sector since China continues to be a key market for Aragonese meat exports, especially in a context of trade and tariff tensions from other countries."
Disinformation and digital protection in Europe
The MEP spoke in Jaca at the University of Zaragoza course titled "Disinformation and digital protection in Europe: informative, business, reputational, economic, technological, and social challenges."
During her presentation, Serrano highlighted the work being promoted by European institutions "against disinformation and hoaxes that sometimes arise about the decisions made in Europe." In her opinion, "disinformation does not always appear as a way to manipulate the framework of debate."
"Disinformation is not just a social media problem. Sometimes certain communication formats, more oriented towards confrontation than information, end up entering political life and receiving visibility in events or campaigns," she stressed, while drawing attention to the need for political parties to be "very careful with the loudspeakers we legitimize to convey our messages."
In response to hoaxes, Rosa Serrano argued that one of the essential tasks of institutions, and especially European ones, "is to explain the community decision-making process, and the distribution of political forces that exists between the Commission, the Council, and the Parliament because when it is not understood who decides what, it is much easier to manipulate the message and blame the European Union for everything."
She also recalled the 40th anniversary of Spain's accession to the European Union, which is being commemorated this year, and highlighted that "during this time, Spain is a consolidated democracy, a more open economy, a more plural society, and a country with a greater international presence. The challenge is to defend it. Because democracy, social justice, the defense of peace, and international law are not guaranteed."