The Diplomat in Spain

Valuation survey of countries by Elcano Royal Institute. 

Eva Cantón. Madrid.

Now that the ghost of the European bailout is far away, the Spanish public opinion seems to have made peace with Germany. If a year ago Berlin was regarded with suspicion, now it looks like it is the main ally that Spain should have in the European Union, according to data provided by the last Barometer of the Elcano Royal Institute.

The survey indicates that 41% of those polled spontaneously opts for Germany when asked about which European country should be our main partner. The second position is held by France, but quite distant from the first place, only being mentioned by 27%.

The country led by Angela Merkel is also the one receiving the best result both in valuation (6.2) and in reputation (6.1), being ahead the United Kingdom and the United States.

Behind this good image is the admiration that the Spanish people feel for a successful economic model and a political system able to make up an efficient coalition Government, according to the director of the Observatory of Spain’s Image Abroad of the Royal Institute Elcano, Carmen González Enríquez.

On the other side of the table, Russia’s valuation and Vladimir Putin’s, fall below 4 due to Moscow’s position in Ukraine’s crisis and its intervention in Crimea.

A significant fall in the valuation that Spanish people have made of three member States of the south of Europe is also noticeable. These three countries are Greece, Portugal and Italy. Besides, this is the first time that the last two fail in this indicator.

Nevertheless, the most concerning fact of the study is the level of indifference and ignorance that Spanish people have regarding community issues just before the elections for the European Parliament. 44% thinks that these elections are not important and 70% does not know who the president of the European Commission is.

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«42% thinks that belonging to the European Union is damaging Spain»

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Changes in the traditional pro-European enthusiasm of the Spanish public opinion are also detected, falling twelve points and announcing a tendency towards bigger doses of Euroscepticism. The percentage of those seeing benefits for Spain for belonging to the EU is at the moment of 49% and those thinking that belonging to the community club is damaging are 42%.

However, more than half of the Spanish people think that the EU has greater capacity than Spain to solve the economic crisis and, in accordance with this idea, they think that the main objective of the Government in Brussels has to be modifying the economic policy.

Leaving the EU aside, the barometer reveals that Morocco and the North of Africa should be the central objective of the Spanish foreign policy, a fact that does not forecasts changes but which is “episodic”, in words of González Enríquez, as a consequence of the migratory pressure registered in Ceuta and Melilla.

Read here the Elcano’s report:

http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/portal/rielcano/contenido?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/elcano/elcano_es/barometro/oleadabrie35