Madrid

State Visit (April 27 and 28, 2009)

Three weeks after NATO, the Sarkozy couple’s visit to Spain is once more an opportunity to compare the styles of First Ladies. As with Michelle Obama, it is a beauty contest between Princess Letizia, a former star journalist, and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, ex-top model. From their Louboutin shoes to their Azzedine Alaïa dresses, the essentials are all there. Scheduled a long time ago, this trip reaffirms the good relations between Spain and France. On the first day of their visit, the presidential couple talked with King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, joined at lunch by Felipe, the crown prince of the Asturias, and his wife Letizia. A visit to the Prado museum, then a State banquet: 140 guests at the Royal Palace. “Carla” was wearing the blue ribbon of the Grand-Cross of the order of Charles III, awarded by Juan Carlos. On Tuesday, a bilateral summit, after a speech by President Sarkozy before the Spanish parliament (the Cortes). A few months before taking over the European presidency, Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero spoke with Nicolas Sarkozy on subjects affecting the two adjacent countries, high-speed train lines, strengthening the gas and electricity cooperation agreements, but also the increasing unemployment (4 million in Spain), swine flu, terrorism, drugs (the speed-boats across  the Strait of Gibraltar)… In forty years, ETA has been held responsible for 825 deaths in Spain. A country also plunged into mourning by the bombings of March 11, 2004 in Madrid (191 killed, more than 1800 injured). Several “agreements” were signed by the six ministers who accompanied the Head of State on his visit (Michèle Alliot-Marie, Bernard Kouchner and others).