Albares unveils adaptation of iconic mural The Future is Europe in Brussels to commemorate Spain's entry into EU

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, today unveiled, at Spain's Permanent Representation to the European Union, a mural commemorating the 40th anniversary of Spain's accession to the then European Economic Community. The work recreates the iconic mural The Future is Europe by Congolese artist Julien Crevaels. The minister then took part in a discussion with Luuk van Middelaar, director of the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics, the first think tank in Brussels dedicated exclusively to European geopolitics and strategy.

Albares recalled that the unveiling of the mural is being held within the framework of the Interministerial Agreement signed in June 2025 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the transition to democracy and Spain's 40 years in the European Union. 'This event is a concrete expression of a shared conviction: that democratic memory and European integration are part of the same inseparable history and the same responsibility for the future,' said Albares.

The monumental mural on three surfaces recreates the work The Future is Europe by Belgian-Congolese artist Julien Crevaels, adapted to Spain. The original - dismantled in December 2024 due to the construction of a building on the site where it was located - became a symbol of the European construction process, as an expression of the values of democracy, human rights, justice and environmental sustainability.

For this commemoration, the Permanent Representation to the EU commissioned the same artist to adapt his work to the principles of Spanish Democratic Memory. 'Its adaptation to the Spanish context reminds us that Spain's integration into the European project meant the consolidation of our democratic transition and the beginning of a period of modernisation that projected us to the world as a country committed to human rights and social justice,' said the minister.

Alongside the staff of the Representation, the event was attended by more than 200 Spanish civil servants working in the European Union and in the offices of the Autonomous Communities in Brussels. In his speech, Albares thanked the Spanish civil servants in the EU for their work in favour of a stronger Europe and recalled that Spain's entry into the EU transformed the country, but also strengthened the European project, on which our country has left its mark.

After the unveiling of the mural, Albares took part in a dialogue with Luuk van Middelaar, director of the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics, a think tank wholly dedicated to European geopolitics and strategy. At this crucial moment, the minister asserted that the very essence of the European project is at stake and that the volatility of the international order requires, more than ever, a strong and cohesive European Union that guarantees its own sovereignty.

The meeting also reviewed the role of Spain and the European Union in the main international arenas and in the new world order that is taking shape, as well as the main geopolitical crises: Ukraine, Gaza, Venezuela and Greenland. Albares emphasised the idea that these are not isolated crises, but that 'everything is connected' in this new global scenario. He advocated the creation of a European army that 'allows us to have security and sovereignty in our own hands', an idea that, Albares recalled, was present at the origin of the creation of the European communities.

For images of the event, clIck here​.​