Madrid - Spain and Finland on Tuesday stressed the importance of the new phase which is set to open for the European Union under the Spanish EU presidency in the first half of 2010. The Czech constitutional court's green light Tuesday for the EU's Lisbon Treaty launched "a phase of great political responsibility" for the union, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said at a joint press conference with his Finnish counterpart Matti Vanhanen.
Spain needed to begin creating a "new political culture" for the EU, Vanhanen said.
Vanhanen was visiting Madrid to discuss the priorities of the Spanish EU presidency, which include economic recovery, measures against climate change, a new trans-Atlantic agreement with the United States and a strategic alliance with Russia.
