Emilio Lamo de Espinosa, president of the Elcano Royal Institute
The Diplomat. Madrid
In 2013, Spain ranked 11th in Global Presence, a ranking that the Elcano Royal Institute elaborates each year. The effects of the economic crisis affected the foreign repercussion of our country slightly, maintaining the same place as last year.
Elcano made the Global Presence Index results public yesterday, being the United States at the top of it one more year. The index measures the international repercussion of 70 countries taking into account their economic dimensions as well as other aspects such as sport, culture, tourism, education or technology.
Ignacio Molina, one of the researchers who participated in the preparation of the report, admitted that there has been a slight decrease in the global presence of Spain, although this was expected due to the “economic suffering” that the country has been undergoing during the last years. The noticeable drop experienced by the help to development provided by Spain, as a consequence of the lack of funds, has not made our country lose the position it held in 2012, the eleventh. The countries before Spain go in the following order: the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, China, France, Russia, Japan, the Netherlands, Canada and Italy. Saudi Arabia is after Spain, holding the twelfth position.
According to the president of Elcano Royal Institute, Emilio Lamo de Espinosa, Spain is “boxing below its weight” and it could exchange positions with the three countries ahead of it.
On her side, the study’s coordinator, Iliana Olivié, emphasized the fact that Europe would be ahead the United States of America if the United States of Europe exited.
Elcano Global Presence Index positions our country in the 11th place
The report also analyzes the military projection that, according to researcher Félix Arteaga, is changing, so we should be attentive to the means the international powers use from now on to keep their weight and influence abroad. In this regard, they highlight the fact that during the last year, the military dimension, the energy exportation and the increase of tourism have led to a rise in Russia’s global presence, after a historical period since the 90s where there was a fall in the projection of the former Soviet Union because of the end of the Cold War.
On the contrary, Iran was harmed by the international embargo of its oil exportations, which benefited Russia and made the Ayatollas regime fall from the 32nd to the 35th position.
