The good performance of the Spanish economy compared to the European one not only demonstrates the key role of community construction in the development of our country. It also outlines a reconfiguration of the priorities of the European Union (EU): for Spain, budgetary issues or the volume of transfers we receive matter much less than issues of a more strategic nature, if not existential, paraphrasing the recent speech of the French president Emmanuel Macron, referring to the EU as a project that is not necessarily immortal. The recent trajectory of the Spanish economy is revealing of the importance of the single market, as well as the political turn that has taken place in Brussels in recent years. If the GDP is 3.7% above the pre-pandemic level, allowing the creation of 1.25 million jobs during such a turbulent period, it is partly due to the rethinking of European economic policy after the tearing of the financial crisis. And also for the good results achieved by Spanish companies in European markets. The foreign sector, thanks to the stimulus of European integration, directly explains 40% of the advance in Spanish GDP registered since the end of 2019. The key is in a favorable competitive position: last year, the balance of exchanges of goods and services with the EU it produced a record surplus, almost doubling the surplus of the German locomotive, something also unprecedented. On the contrary, France and Italy register a deficit in their exchanges within the EU. To consolidate these results, we must take advantage of the circumstances that allow us to take advantage of the competitive position of our productive fabric. It is about stopping the escalation of subsidies and aid that distort the single market, spuriously weakening the momentum of exports.
Similarly, the promotion of national champions in each Member State not only fragments the single market, it also hampers the competitiveness of the entire European economy. On the contrary, successful experiences show the importance of competition between large corporations as a primary instrument of industrial policy and support of the purchasing power of families. The report prepared by Enrico Letta advocates the emergence of powerful European operators that compete with each other, and not of giants with feet of clay that would hardly resist competition with their North American or Chinese counterparts. For a competitive economy like the Spanish one, the mobility of Savings should be a higher priority than expanding the European budget. It is worrying that Europe exports no less than 13% of the resources available in the private sector to invest in the productive apparatus of third countries, among which the United States stands out. The volume of these lost resources exceeds the estimated needs for investment or expansion of community public resources. For Spain, it would be more beneficial to unblock the barriers to the mobility of savings than to obtain a new Next Generation (European funds) – the current one still has a long way to go. In short, the financial union should not be delayed any further. European trade policy must also be relocated. The tariff war between the US and China has weakened the multilateral system, leading to agreements with other major players guided by European interests and environmental and social standards. This is also an area where the Spanish economy can take advantage of its energy cost advantages. Such agreements can also incorporate an orderly development of migratory flows, important for a continent that is aging and facing bottlenecks. All of this makes up a strategy coherent with the needs of the Spanish economy, and at the same time rooted in the founding European principles. of openness and social cohesion. Paradoxically, its implementation entails a limited budgetary effort compared to solutions inspired by the temptation to withdraw into national borders.
Prices
The CPI increased by 3.8% in May in year-on-year and harmonized terms, compared to 2.6% for the eurozone as a whole. Therefore, the inflation differential remains unfavorable, partly due to specific factors such as the rapid de-escalation of energy prices in Europe (a trend that occurred previously in the case of Spain). On the other hand, excluding energy and fresh food, the underlying CPI also exceeds the European average, reflecting the dynamism of demand, especially in the sectors most linked to tourism. Raymond Torres is situation director of Funcas. In X: @RaymondTorres_Follow all the Economy and Business information on Facebook and xor in our weekly newsletter
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits_