Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Germany's President Begins Spain State Visit With Planned Gernika Tribute Alongside King Felipe VI

Steinmeier uses the trip to link Germany's historical responsibility to a call for stronger European defense.

Overview

  • Frank-Walter Steinmeier was received with full state honors in Madrid as the three-day visit runs 26–28 November, including a gala at the Royal Palace and a viewing of Picasso's Guernica.
  • Addressing Spain's Congress, he urged greater national and European defense effort and warned about extremist movements targeting young people.
  • On Friday he is scheduled to travel to Gernika with Felipe VI in the first visit to the town by a German head of state and the King's first trip there.
  • The program in Gernika includes a floral offering at the cemetery, meetings with bombing survivors and a visit to the Museum of Peace, with the Basque lehendakari set to attend.
  • Basque parties and regional leaders have renewed calls for a Spanish acknowledgement of the 1937 bombing, a request the central government has not embraced.