Eduardo González
Germany is the country most highly valued by Spaniards for its economic achievements, its industry and its technical capacity, but, on the other hand, it generates very little sympathy and very few would consider working or studying in that country.
“Germany is the country most admired by Spaniards, but admired is not the same as loved, admiration is not the same as affection,” said the director of the Elcano Royal Institute, Charles Powell, during the presentation of the report The image of Germany in Spain, prepared by the think tank with the collaboration of the German Embassy and which was presented last Thursday at the Espacio Bertelsmann in Madrid,
According to the study, Germany is the country most highly rated by Spaniards (7.3 out of ten), ahead of Spain itself (6.7), France 6.3, Italy 6.2 and the United Kingdom 5.9. This preference “is not only found among EU countries, but also among the 55 leading economies in the world,” explained one of the authors of the report, Carmen González Enríquez, a researcher at the Elcano Royal Institute.
The image of Germany in Spain, the researcher recalled, experienced a certain deterioration during the economic crisis of 2008, in which it went from 7.4 to 4.9 (June 2013) in the assessment of Spaniards due to “a certain confrontation of the southern countries with Germany and the northern countries” regarding the use of European funds, but since then it has gradually recovered and now has practically “the same score as before the crisis”.
When assessing Germany, Spaniards highlight above all its economic achievements, its industry and its technical capacity; in short, the factors most closely related to “efficiency”. “Germans are valued as rigorous, disciplined, hard-working and productive, a well-managed country with a strong economy and powerful industry,” the report explains.
Besides, this admiration for Germany is not disturbed by any kind of bilateral conflict, historical or current, as is the case with another great country admired from Spain, France. The physical distance between Spain and Germany, the absence of wars or territorial disputes between the two countries in recent times and the widespread perception that there are currently no factors of rivalry or conflict between the two states, facilitate this view from a distance, unclouded by emotional elements.
For this reason, some of the most negative aspects of their image in the past, such as the Second World War, the Nazi period or the Jewish Holocaust, have hardly any effect among Spaniards and, in fact, only 6% of the more than 1,000 people surveyed for the report made reference to them, said González. “They are not feared,” she added.
On the other hand, only 8% spontaneously allude to supposed negative character traits of Germans (antipathy, coldness, rigidity, low sociability), which are far outweighed by the positive aspects (organization, efficiency, civility, formality, honesty, precision or reliability), mentioned by 38%. The exception is “German selfishness”, which, according to 42% of those surveyed, “is the main weakness of Germany’s image in Spain and negatively affects the assessment of other aspects”.
For all these reasons, according to the study, most of the spontaneous ideas associated with Germany are positive and refer above all to its character, its economy and its products, with special mention of the automobile. “Germany is considered superior to Spain in its economy, its international influence, the quality of its democracy, its technology, its respect for the environment and its level of equality between men and women,” it continues.
“Life is better in Spain”
However, the majority of respondents are of the opinion that “in Spain life is better” and that both cultural production and food in our country are superior to those in Germany. Therefore, “as much as they admire Germany, the majority of Spaniards say they would not like to live, work or study there,” the study indicates.
“The bulk of Spaniards look at Germany with emotional distance: it is a country that is admired, trusted, that does not arouse fear, but neither does it arouse sympathy,” the study warns. “Only 37% of those interviewed say they feel quite a lot or a lot of sympathy for that country,” the researcher explained. “They are not feared, but they are not sympathetic either, they are admired, but not sympathy or affection,” she added.
In any case, the study also reveals that “knowledge of Germany is small” and that most Spaniards “are little informed about what happens there”. The percentage of people who have ever visited Germany (37% of the sample) is much lower than the percentage of Germans who have ever visited Spain (73% of adults, according to Elcano data from 2021).
Maria Margarete Gosse
During the event, the German ambassador in Madrid, Maria Margarete Gosse, acknowledged that, “Spain sees us as a whole in a positive light”, although there are still “weak points, the usual clichés and stereotypes, such as the hard work of the Germans, which I was expecting”. However, she admitted, the report reveals other “surprising” points, including some of the more positive ones. “We are not that good, certain things could be improved; in Germany, for example, gender equality is still a long way from Spain,” she said.
“The vision of a country depends a lot on the current image and its context, but it is very difficult to change clichés,” continued the ambassador (whose husband is Spanish). “We have found that, in the image of a country, there are stereotypes that do not change, but they also depend a lot on the politicians, how they act and how their actions are reflected in the media,” the ambassador warned.
In this sense, she admitted, she is “quite surprised” by the image created in Spain by former Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was heavily criticized between 2012 and 2014 for her political actions in the EU in the context of the financial crisis and who was described by everyone in Spain as “the best friend” when her mandate ended. “It’s not something that happens many times, going down a lot and then going up,” she acknowledged. In any case, she assured, the two countries are currently going through a “very positive” moment in their relations and the German Government is “determined to support Spain in the Presidency of the EU, because we have many issues on which we agree one hundred percent”.
