What Europe can learn from the Spanish elections
Sometimes good government pays. The center right Popular Party in Spain led by Premier Jose Maria Aznar won a smashing victory in the general elections held last Sunday. There had been little doubt that the PP had an excellent chance of winning, but no one had predicted that they would capture over 44% of the vote, making future compromising alliances in parliament unnecessary. With 182 of the 350 seats in the Deputy chamber of the Cortes, the PP no longer needs the votes of the Catalonians, so crucial to the ability to govern for Aznar since his first victory in 1996.
Socialist leader Almunia’s tactic of creating a leftist alliance backfired bigtime. Not only did the coalition between the Socialists and the Communists of Izquierda Unida fail to produce the desired results, it actually penalized the Spanish Left. If the PSOE and IU held 162 seats in the last parliament, they now have 140!
The Socialists blame their defeat on the low voter turnout, 63%, well under the 77% turnout in 1996. However, the voters who stayed home were the Socialists who were at odds with understanding the alliance with the Communists. It wasn’t easy for them to forget the 62 years of insults, denigration, and vilification that the Spanish Socialists and Communists have been exchanging since 1938. Evidently, the Spanish Left has higher principals than their Italian comrades. They refused to keep strange bedfellows for the sole purpose of defeating the right.
It is already proving difficult for the rest of the European governments, most of which are governed by socialists, to digest this victory of the right, a triumph earned by conquering the trust of the Spaniards with results. And yet, they would do themselves and their countries well by taking heed of this lesson from the Iberian peninsula.
There is nothing particularly original in the Spanish formula: a soft style liberalization of the economy, an aggressive privatization campaign, and a fiscal policy that encourages development and investment. Textbook stuff. Since Aznar came to power, unemployment has decreased from 25% to 16%, the gross national product has grown at an average rate of 4% yearly, and fiscal pressure has drastically declined.
The phenomenal expansion of Spanish industry and banking in Latin America has been dubbed a second Spanish conquest, five hundred years after the one computed by Pizarro and Cortés.
By decreasing taxes, Spain has become more competitive. By reinforcing the economy, the country has attained growth figures that are two or three times higher than those of Germany and Italy. By grinding down the deficit, save any last minute surprises, within two years Spain should have a balanced budget. In this last respect, it is unique among the EU members who have underwritten participation in the Euro!
Twenty five years after the death of Franco, not only is Spain no longer the caboose of the European community, it is slowly becoming the European Union’s engine car in terms of what it can teach its neighbors in the realm of economic policy. Indeed one of Aznar’s campaign promises was that if the Spanish confirmed his candidacy for another four years, he would make Spain “the best country in Europe.” The Spanish looked at the previous four years and decided to believe the words of the leader of a winning team.
March 2000
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