The EU umbrella guarantee for Spain's growth
GDP growth exceeds that of the three largest economies, harmony with Brussels has given the country a credibility licence
from our correspondent Luca Veronese
3' min read
Key points
3' min read
BARCELONA - "To explain the resilience of the Spanish economy and understand why its growth is higher than that of the other major European economies at this stage, one has to look at Europe," says Pedro Videla, economist at the Iese Business School.
'Europe for Spain has been a protection, a guarantee of credibility and now,' Videla adds, 'it is a propeller of development: let's look at the last fifteen years, in the international financial crisis, in the Eurozone crisis, in the face of the collapse of the Iberian banking system, Madrid has always been able to count on the support of the EU and the protection of the ECB in the financial markets. And the same has happened in the pandemic and then in the recovery investments: also through the budgetary freedom that the EU has granted to foster recovery'.
For reasons also linked to its political history, Spain - in its institutions and in its population - has always been very much in tune with the European Union project: no Eurosceptic party has ever been part of the majority coalition; and governments - whether right-wing like those of the popular Mariano Rajoy or left-wing like with the socialist Pedro Sanchez, still in office - have always done everything to maintain relaxed relations with Brussels even in difficult times, adding European aspirations of principle to the economic benefits of European policies.
The latest data
.In the first quarter of this year, Spain's economy - according to data from the INE, the National Statistics Office - grew by 0.7 per cent compared to the previous three months: an expansion well above expectations and more than double the increase in GDP recorded in the Eurozone, significantly higher than that of Germany, France and Italy. "The last two years in Spain have seen greater dynamism in exports, private and public consumption, which have grown by 24.1, 10.7 and 5.2 percentage points respectively," says Rafael Domenech of Bbva Research.
A strong boost came from the revival of tourist flows from abroad after the pandemic and Spain's status as a safe destination, they explain at INE, recalling that tourism is now worth more than 13% of GDP. "The energy crisis has had a limited impact in Spain; the implementation of the NextGenerationEU European funds has also played a role; a further element," Domenech argues, "has to do with immigration, which has allowed the Spanish population to grow by 2.5% in two years, almost two points above the EU total.
