Minister for Europe, Chris Bryant, visited Madrid on Friday 13 November for a series of meetings covering key items on the European agenda including Spain's forthcoming presidency of the EU. You can follow his progress below.

Meeting with Spanish Counterpart, Diego López Garrido

Chris Bryant spent time with his Spanish counterpart, Diego López Garrido, to discuss a range of bilateral issues, including Spain's forthcoming presidency of the EU, and attended a meeting to exchange information on national approaches to promoting youth employment. Read the full press release

Interview with Radio Nacional de España - "if not Blair then who?"

Chris has been interviewed on the national radio station, RNE, where he supported Tony Blair's candidature for EU President. "If it's not Tony Blair then who will it be?" asked the Minister. "Someone less well known who cannot open doors for Europe, who won't be able to call the presidents of the US or China and speak with them the same day." You can listen to the full interview and read the transcript (both in Spanish) on the RNE website.

Presenting the UK Climate Change Act

Chris took part in a seminar at the British Embassy in Spain, where leading figures from the worlds of politicis, NGOs and business in the UK, Spain and Portugal, were given a presentation on the UK’s Climate Change Act and then discussed similar initiatives in their respective countries.

Also taking part in the seminar were Nuno Lacasta, Director of CECAC, the Portuguese government’s cross governmental climate change commission; James Burt, Carbon Budgets Policy Manager at the UK’s Department for Energy and Climate Change; Liz Hutchins from Friends of the Earth; and Simon Montague, former Director of Communications at Eurostar.

Click on the video to hear Chris's comments on Climate Change and the need for a firm agreement at Copenhagen

See photos of the event on our Flickr channel