The Basque region-based industries, like the automotive and aerospace, are global and cutting hedge. They export between 70% and 90% of their production, achieving surpluses for the region’s trade balance, of some 5 billion euros in one of the last few years.
Everything seems to indicate that Pedro Sánchez will be acclaimed as PSOE leader at the 39th Spanish Socialist Party Congress to be held 16-18 June. He is proposing a new social pact to modernise and stabilise Spain, with its roots in a European progressive alliance, in the face of the current or upcoming neoliberalism crises.
It was the result Spain’s Socialist bigwigs had feared: a resounding victory for Pedro Sánchez in their party’s primary on Sunday, beating Andalusia premier Susana Díaz and former Basque premier Patxi López, to become leader for a second time.
The latest figures have again confirmed what we have been seeing in the last few quarters: Spain is not only not losing industry at the moment, but in fact this is recovering very fast. In January, for example, Spanish industry’s revenues rose 13.1% from a year earlier, the biggest increase since April 2008.
Recently there’s again been talk of a two-speed Europe. During the mini-summit two weeks ago, Merkel, Hollande, Italy, Rajoy, gave the green light to this latest spin. The Spanish PM has said the country would be at the nucleus of this.
Of all the problems thrown up by Brexit, one of most emotionally charged is the impact it will have on foreigners living in the UK and British citizens living abroad. The other evening in Madrid at a forum on the implications of Brexit, I got a glimpse of the strength of feeling that it generates among the British community in Spain (estimated at around 300,000) and the Spanish community in the UK believed to be around 200,000.
The euro’s fourth biggest economy will not be the protagonist in long economic debates in 2017. Spain’s deficit and its domestic politics are no longer a concern for Brussels, now focused on the Brexit negotiations and worried about the complicated elections cycle in various countries.
Spain continues to hold its own among the most important destinations for foreign investment. In 2014, it was ranked twelfth in the world and third in Europe in terms of net inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flow and ninth in terms of stock. In fact, there are an estimated 10,700 subsidiaries of foreign companies in Spain generating 28% of national turnover to €434.4 billion, as last data of 2013 given by the Association Multinacionales por Marca España point.
I hate this endless temptation for bracketing time into what we call “years.” Time is time and, by definition, there are no interruptions. The problems which beset us in 2016 are still here, whether it’s terrorism or open warfare or Spain’s ingovernability. Thinking it’s going to be very different in 2017 is deceiving ourselves.
It looks like 2017 will present a lot of opportunities and challenges for the Spanish economy. It will grow at a good pace, creating jobs, with a minority government obliged to seek consensus on issues like education and pensions. Meeting our deficit commitments to Europe will remain a challenge after 2016.