Spain's Senate voted against ratifying a bilateral friendship treaty with France on Tuesday evening during an official visit to Madrid by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Right-wing opposition senators from the Popular Party, known as PP, and the far-right Vox party combined to reject the ratification text by 142 votes to 106. Most of the votes in favor came from elected senators belonging to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's ruling Socialist Party, officially known as PSOE.
The parliamentary vote took place in the Senate chamber just as an official state dinner was beginning at the Royal Palace in Madrid, located only a few hundred meters away. Macron was attending the formal banquet alongside King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain.
Dispute over cabinet meeting clause
The bilateral friendship pact was initially signed in Barcelona in January 2023 by Macron and Sanchez. Following its initialing in Catalonia, the treaty was ratified simultaneously by the Congress of Deputies, which functions as the lower house of Spain's parliament, and by both the National Assembly and the Senate in Paris.
However, the conservative Popular Party, which maintains an absolute majority in the Spanish Senate, opposed a key article that has been part of the text since its drafting. The clause provides that a cabinet member from one government must be invited to join a cabinet meeting of the other country at least once every three months.
Spanish judicial authorities were asked to assess the legality of the ministerial exchange mechanism ahead of the French state visit. On September 23, just days before Macron arrived in Madrid, Spanish judges issued a ruling confirming that the bilateral treaty is fully constitutional under Spanish law.
Diplomatic context across Europe
France relies on formal treaties of friendship to anchor its key relationships across Europe. Outside of the Spanish pact, Paris has signed four European friendship treaties of this kind, establishing similar structured agreements with Germany, Italy, and Poland.
For Spain, such comprehensive diplomatic instruments remain rare. Madrid has entered into comparable bilateral treaties only with its other direct geographical neighbors, maintaining similar agreements exclusively with Portugal and Morocco.
