Luis Ayllón
Director de The Diplomat in Spain
Diplomat Javier Elorza has written a book that is essential for understanding Spain’s path since it joined the EU club after signing up in June 1985.
With the suggestive title “Una pica en Flandes. La huella de España en la Unión Europea” (Flanders’ difficult task. Trace of Spain in the EU), Elorza, who experienced those early days at first hand and was one of the main Spanish negotiators until the year 2000, narrates the intricacies of the struggles of interests between the different countries while the process of European construction was underway.
A career diplomat, Elorza worked with governments of different colours, and through the pages of his book pass both the successes and the mistakes of those who had to take political decisions that would have enormous repercussions for our country. As he recounts, with a sharp edge, Spain soon realised that where it had joined was not exactly a “gentlemen’s club”, but a place where you had to be very skilful to achieve your goals in front of others.
Elorza openly acknowledges that today’s Spain has lost many points in terms of real convergence in the European Union compared to what it achieved in the first decades since its integration, as well as longing for the important role that our country played in the negotiations of the Maastricht, Amsterdam, Nice or Lisbon Treaties or in the Schengen process.
The former Deputy Permanent Representative to the EU, Secretary General of the European Communities and later Ambassador in Brussels, knows better than anyone how the fights in the European Councils unfolded, and praises both Felipe González and José María Aznar, because each, at different times and with different styles, knew how to live up to what Spain needed.
He recalls González’s skill in backing Helmuth Kohl, when both François Mitterrand and Margaret Thatcher were dragging their feet over Germany’s unity after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Kohl never forgot that support, and he reciprocated González’s friendship and harmony that enabled Spain to move forward on such important issues as the Cohesion Fund and an unbeatable Multiannual Financial Framework 1993-1999. Elorza also highlights the political vision of the then Prime Minister when he spoke modestly to the press that a balanced agreement had been reached and did not boast about the results for Spain, so as not to upset the German Chancellor.
Similarly, Elorza underlines Aznar’s work and his determination to ensure that Spain was part of the hard core that launched the euro, when few thought that this would be possible; the votes that our country achieved at the Nice European Council, almost at the same level as the big four; or the results of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2000-2006, after negotiations that lasted until the early hours of the morning in Berlin.
Elorza also has words of praise for men such as Jacques Delors, who was at the head of the European Commission and was sensitive to Spain’s demands. Nor does he forget some of the politicians and diplomats who were involved in these negotiations, such as Carlos Westendorp, Manuel Marín, Francisco Fernández Ordóñez and Abel Matutes, as well as many civil servants who worked in favour of Spain’s interests.
The author of the book himself was a tough and skilful negotiator whom his colleagues in Brussels not only respected, but sometimes feared: we journalists who followed the negotiations closely in those years could see this for ourselves, and who found in Javier Elorza someone who understood very well that, without revealing what could not be revealed, transparency is the best way to deal with relations with the media.
“Una pica en Flandes” will not leave unsatisfied those who want to know how Spain moved in those power struggles, in those positions of firmness and in those pacts that were so necessary to achieve the objectives pursued. These were years in which a Spain that was integrating into Europe knew how to do so, while at the same time leaving its mark, without renouncing the defence of national interests.
Those who lead the destinies of our country or aspire to do so should read carefully the pages written by Elorza, because it will undoubtedly help them to look up a little from their navel and remember that we are immersed, of our own free will, in a much broader project that still needs to be consolidated and improved.
