King Felipe VI is all too often lost. from Spain and his wife Letizia not to Germany. But now it's time again. The couple is received with military honors by Federal President Steinmeier. The meeting is decidedly cordial.
The Spanish royal couple Felipe VI. and Letizia has begun a three-day state visit to Germany. To begin with, the King and Queen were welcomed with military honors in glorious autumn weather by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Büdenbender in front of Bellevue Palace. The Bundeswehr Staff Music Corps played both national anthems.
The heads of state then withdrew for talks. "Spain and Germany can rely on each other," said Steinmeier afterwards. This is especially true at a time when Russia attacked Ukraine, at a time when there was so much suffering in Ukraine, at a time when so many Ukrainian refugees found refuge in other parts of Europe.
The Federal President stressed that the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine was also a war against the unity of Europe. "Our appeal is that Europe does not allow itself to be divided in this situation." Steinmeier assured: "The close exchange with Spain at all levels is particularly important to me. In the future we want to work together even more closely on strategic issues and intensify our bilateral cooperation in many areas."
Felipe said he and Letizia had been looking forward to this visit for a long time. "Finally we are here now." The state visit had been postponed by a year due to the corona pandemic. Spain and Germany share many values such as democracy, the rule of law and respect for international law, the king said. "This visit is an excellent opportunity to give our bilateral relations a new impetus."
King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia last visited Germany in December 2014. The Federal President and his wife were in Spain in October 2018.
The start of the visit was particularly cordial. In a black suit, Felipe walked with Steinmeier along the front of the Bundeswehr guard battalion. Büdenbender and Letizia wore dark blue dresses, although the shades of blue bit each other. Arm in arm, they left the room where their husbands had previously made their statements to journalists. Felipe thanked him for the warm welcome and remarked enthusiastically "that almost Spanish weather greeted us today".
Before the hosts and guests introduced their delegations to each other, they spoke at length with a group of students from the Joan Miró Elementary School, a bilingual school in Berlin. They patiently had selfies taken with them and gave autographs on the small German and Spanish paper flags that the children had with them. Other Berliners and tourists were later able to see the royal couple at the wreath-laying ceremony at the Neue Wache.
The Spanish king will then also be received by Olaf Scholz in the Chancellery. The Chancellor had only been in La Coruña with half his cabinet for German-Spanish government consultations at the beginning of October. In the evening Steinmeier and Büdenbender give a state banquet in honor of the guests from Madrid.
Felipe and Letizia travel on to Frankfurt on Tuesday afternoon. Among other things, the opening of the book fair is on the program there. Federal President Steinmeier is also expected to attend. Spain is this year's guest of honor at the 74th Frankfurt Book Fair from October 19th to 23rd. 320 exhibitors from Spain present themselves at the fair. Numerous Spanish writers are expected, the authors Irene Vallejo and Antonio Muñoz Molina will hold the literary speeches.
In contrast to their 2014 visit to Germany, Felipe and Letizia are making one of their rare state visits this time. As of 2014, there have only been twelve of them. The last one was almost a year ago and went to Sweden. The state visit to Germany is "of enormous importance" and underlines "the excellent dynamic of the bilateral relationship", the Spanish newspaper "El Mundo" quoted diplomatic circles in Madrid as saying.
