The Director General of SCIC visits Madrid to formalise provision of interpreting services
On Monday, 20 February, an Administrative Cooperation Agreement for the provision of conference interpretation services during the Spanish Presidency of the EU was signed between Aurora Mejía Errasquín, Director of the OCPUE (Office for the Coordination of the Spanish EU Presidency) and the Director General of Interpretation, Genoveva Ruiz Calavera, who was accompanied by Carlos Hoyos, Head of the Spanish Interpretation Unit, and Carlos García Vico, SCIC ES Presidency Coordinator. The Spanish authorities praised SCIC's professionalism and expertise, thanking our Director General for our support to EU Presidencies, and both sides underlined the excellent cooperation at all levels.
With the Spanish Presidency fast approaching, the Director General took advantage of the trip to Spain to give visibility to the activities of both the Commission and SCIC in Spain, not only during the Presidency but also in general terms.
Her visit had a heavy agenda. It started on the previous Thursday, 16 February, with several interviews given to major Spanish media, including RNE (Radio Nacional de España) and TVE (Televisión Española, link will follow soon) as well as the daily El Mundo (link will follow soon), in which she talked about her work and presented SCIC's activities as well as career opportunities in the EU institutions. A meeting with representatives of AUnETI (Association of Spanish Universities with Translation and Interpretation Studies) also took place on that day, with interpreter training and succession planning for Spanish-language interpreters high on the agenda.
Friday, 17 February, marked the meeting with Juan Fernández Trigo, Secretary of State for Latin America, the Caribbean, and Spanish in the World, during which the Spanish authorities explained how the Spanish Government supports the role of Spanish as a global language. The Secretary thanked the Director General for accepting to attend the opening session of the International Congress of the Spanish Language, which will gather representatives from all Spanish-speaking countries around the world in March.
At the stroke of eleven, a young audience gathered at the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology of the Complutense University of Madrid to follow a lecture on “Spain at the Helm of the EU in 2023: the Spanish Presidency of the EU from the perspective of two Spaniards with a long international track record". The two Spaniards were none other than the Director General and Cristina Gallach, Special Commissioner for the Alliance of the New Language Economy, one of the Spanish Government's Strategic Projects for Recovery and Economic Transformation partially funded by Next Generation EU.
With both panellists having previous professional experience in managing the consequences of war, the topics ranged from the current situation in Ukraine, to the contribution of the EU project to the lives of citizens, and the role of Spain in the European Union. Students asked questions about the green transition, digitalisation, strategic autonomy and the role of the EU as a global actor. The lecture was recorded and you will soon be able to follow it on the dedicated YouTube channel of the Complutense university.