The Diplomat in Spain
  • Frontpage
  • News
    • Spain
    • World
    • The world in Spain
    • Diplomatic Breakfast
    • Diplomacy with a history
    • The bag
    • Social life
    • Appointments
  • Tribune
  • VIP Club
  • Embassies
    • Embassies Directory
    • Protocol
    • International legislation
  • Discover Spain
  • UNWTO News
  • Leisure
    • Culture & Art
    • Entertainment
    • Movies
  • es Español
  • en English
  • Account
No Result
View All Result
  • Frontpage
  • News
    • Spain
    • World
    • The world in Spain
    • Diplomatic Breakfast
    • Diplomacy with a history
    • The bag
    • Social life
    • Appointments
  • Tribune
  • VIP Club
  • Embassies
    • Embassies Directory
    • Protocol
    • International legislation
  • Discover Spain
  • UNWTO News
  • Leisure
    • Culture & Art
    • Entertainment
    • Movies
No Result
View All Result
The Diplomat in Spain
No Result
View All Result

Brexit for Spain: many problems and one opportunity

June 27, 2016
in Uncategorized


Salvador Llaudes

Analyst, Elcano Royal Institute

 

At the moment, David Cameron must be regretting the promise of referendum he made in January 2013 and that has only allowed him to enjoy 13 months of absolute majority. This decision has not only made him fall, it also threatens to trigger an internal battle of unpredictable consequences in the Conservative Party. It has also polarized the British citizens unnecessarily and has put at risk the United Kingdom’s territorial integrity and the future of the community project.

 

Beyond that, there are specific implications for Spain. The predictable volatility of markets has hit the Spanish selective index especially hard, which lost 12.35% on Friday, a number that compared to the 3.1% lost by the British index is even more striking. Besides, the fear of the fall of the pound (right now to barely €1.23) having an impact on tourism, given the loss of purchasing power of the British, seems to be founded. Only in 2015, 15.67 million British tourists came to Spain, which means 21.6% of the foreign visitors.

 

There is also a considerable uncertainty facing what the Brexit can mean for other aspects of the close economic relations between both countries, such as investments and exports. Let us not forget that the United Kingdom is the first destination country for Spanish investments, whereas the British are the fifth investing the most in Spain. Let us not forget either that, in 2015, the United Kingdom was the fourth destination for Spain’s exports, as well as its sixth supplier.

 

Spain, as fourth country of the EU, will have to co-lead in the collective process of reflection more actively

 

Regarding medium-long term effects, these will depend, to a large extent, on how tidy the British exit is (if it takes place, since there are voices asking for a second referendum, and much debate about whether Westminster, with pro-Bremain majority, must accept the Brexit or new elections must be called). The other key element will be the agreement reached with the European Union in the end. Now, of course, Spaniards living in the United Kingdom (according to official data, around 200,000) and British living in Spain (more than 300,000) will see how their legal situation does not change at all until the Brexit is put into effect (at least 2 years since article 50 of the TEU is set in motion, which will be in October at the earliest).

 

Once the Brexit takes place, it will have to be analyzed what is the new framework of relations between the EU and the United Kingdom, if there is one by then. Nevertheless, imagining a situation in which an agreement is not reached by then, the specially interwoven relationship between Spain and the United Kingdom makes recommendable to find alternative ways, even if it is bilaterally, since to that already expounded we would have to add the hardly solvable contentious of Gibraltar.

 

However, apart from all those problems, which are not minor, the shock forces to reconsider the European project. That is an opportunity for a country like Spain, which must form a government fast to be in the vanguard of the integration project. Spain is going to become the fourth most important country of the EU and it must assume the responsibility of co-leading the collective process of reflection, in a much more proactive way than until now. There is no time to lose, as proved by the recent meeting in which only founding countries participated. There are no excuses to, in the immediate future, exclude Spain from any initiative to talk about the Europe of the future.

 

 

ShareTweetSend
Previous Post

Spain, fourth EU's country with highest percentage of poor homes with children

Next Post

Casa Árabe presents a passacaglia of Moroccan music at the Retiro Park of Madrid

The bag

From ‘number two’ at the US Embassy in Spain to Head of Mission in Havana

US President Joe Biden has appointed Benjamin Ziff, who was Minister-Counsellor at the US Embassy in Madrid and between August and December 2017 acted as Chargé d'Affaires

More bags>

Hemeroteca

Receive our newsletter

We use MailChimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to MailChimp for processing. Learn more about MailChimp's privacy practices here.

  • Contacto
  • ¿Quiénes somos?
  • Aviso legal y Propiedad intelectual

© The Diplomat in Spain. All rights reserved.

  • English
  • Español (Spanish)
Account
  • Frontpage
  • News
    • Spain
    • World
    • The world in Spain
    • Diplomatic Breakfast
    • Diplomacy with a history
    • The bag
    • Social life
    • Appointments
  • Tribune
  • VIP Club
  • Embassies
    • Embassies Directory
    • Protocol
    • International legislation
  • Discover Spain
  • UNWTO News
  • Leisure
    • Culture & Art
    • Entertainment
    • Movies

© The Diplomat in Spain. All rights reserved.

Tanto nuestros partners como nosotros utilizamos cookies en nuestro sitio web para personalizar contenido y publicidad o analizar nuestro tráfico. Haciendo click consientes el uso de esta tecnología en nuestra web. Saber más