Emmanuel Macron to make state visit to Spain on 29 September with bilateral treaty stalled

Bilateral agenda in Madrid

French President Emmanuel Macron will conduct a two-day state visit to Spain on 29 and 30 September 2026, representing the first state visit by a French president to the country since 2009. The trip, announced jointly on 14 September 2026 by the Élysée Palace and the Spanish government, follows years of postponement. King Felipe VI originally extended an invitation in 2018 following the Spanish royal couple's visit to Paris that year. French First Lady Brigitte Macron will accompany the president on the journey. King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia will host a formal gala dinner in Madrid in Macron's honour on the evening of 29 September. On 30 September at 12:00, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will host Macron for formal discussions at the Moncloa Palace.

The French presidency outlined the purpose of the trip in an official statement.

“This first state visit of a French President to Spain since 2009 will illustrate the depth of the ties that unite our two countries as well as the density of their cooperation.”

The stalled friendship treaty

The state visit takes place while Spain's parliament remains divided over the bilateral Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation. The accord was first negotiated at the EU-MED 9 summit in Alicante in late 2022 and signed by Sánchez and Macron at a bilateral summit in Barcelona on 19 January 2023. France completed its domestic ratification in March 2025 through votes in both the National Assembly and the Senate. In Spain, the treaty stalled over Article 2.4, a clause providing for reciprocal quarterly attendance of ministers at cabinet meetings. The conservative Popular Party and Vox contested the legality of foreign ministers sitting in the Council of Ministers.

An initial ratification effort failed in May 2025 due to abstentions from Junts and Podemos. In April 2026, the Spanish government secured approval in the Congress of Deputies with 175 votes. To facilitate that vote, Madrid and Paris established an interpretative agreement by exchanging letters to specify that ministerial participation would occur only in ad hoc meetings outside official cabinet sessions. The Popular Party then used its absolute majority in the Senate to halt the bill, submitting a preliminary petition to the Constitutional Court over potential breaches of Articles 13.2, 23.2, and 98.1 of the Spanish Constitution.

European policy and international discussions

In addition to bilateral agreements, the meeting will focus on shared European and foreign policy priorities. The two administrations have not held a formal bilateral summit since January 2023, though Sánchez and Macron met on 14 July 2026 in Paris when the Spanish prime minister attended the French National Day military parade. The discussions on 30 September at Moncloa will cover the security situation in Ukraine and ongoing developments across the Middle East. According to official statements from Paris, both delegations will also examine measures to protect youth and democratic institutions from online risks, focusing on the impact of social media and artificial intelligence platforms. The French president also visited Spain in the summer of 2025 to take part in the United Nations Conference on Financing for Development in Seville.