Alvise Lennkh & Dennis Shen (Scope Ratings) | Political events in Spain (undecided), Portugal (stable) and Italy (divided) have implications for the three countries, visible in their divergent capacity to reduced the high levels of public debt.
Shaun Riordan | The other oddity of the debate was the almost complete absence of policy. Many commentators have already noted the absence of economic policy from the election campaign. Last night there was no mention of health or the key issue of further reform of the labour market.
Stephanie Kelly (Aberdeen) | The fragmented nature of the Spanish political system makes it unlikely that any party will secure an absolute majority to govern. Therefore, if a government is going to be formed after these elections – something that cannot be taken for granted given the fractured political system – it will be a minority or coalition government.
Joan Tapia (Barcelona) | As I write this article, three polls have been published – in three Spanish newspapers ABC, El Periodico de Catalunya and Confidencial – which practically agree. If there are no changes in the twenty days that remain before the elections, PSOE will be the largest party with more than 130 seats, far distant from the PP which will remain on 80-90 seats.
Ana Fuentes | Spain and the US are the only developed countries which are going to grow more than 2% in 2019 according to the IMF. On the case of Spain, exports, which were driving the country’s growth, have weakened, but domestic demand has grown. The risk premium is just below 100 basis points, compared to Italy’s 250 b.p. But beyond the data, the analysis is currently conditioned by the effect of the electoral campaign.
Fernando G. Urbaneja | An unprecedented tornado of elections has fallen on Spain in 2019. In the short space of four weeks Spaniards can place their papers with their electoral preferences in at least 5 urns, to elect the Congress, Senate, European Parliament, Townhalls and a good part of the regional parliaments. Spring superelections which will overturn a good part of the structure of the state.
Growth in Spain remains strong but the country can withstand some political instability before the results of snap elections that will be held on 28 April. As reported by analysts at Julius Baer, “polls are indicating a hung parliament, but shifts in party policies could enable both a centre-left and a centre-right coalition government to be formed.” The spread difference between Portugal’s and Spain’s 10-year government bonds currently stands at 30 basis points.
Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez called snap elections for April 28th after holding an extraordinary cabinet meeting in Madrid. The ballot follows Sanchez’s defeat in parliament over his 2019 fiscal plans. Madrid avoids May 26 “Super Sunday,” with local, regional and EU elections the same day.
EU Parliament elections on 23–26 May 2019 look set to boost the share of populist parties in parliament by a meaningful amount and have therefore drawn the attention of financial markets of late. However, analysts at PIMCO think the election is unlikely to result in meaningful change for European politics or the markets for several reasons.
The destruction of wealth in Europe continues and it will surely have political consequences in 2019 elections for the European Parliament. For Chris Iggo, CIO Fixed Income at AXA IM, “there has to be a risk that populists will receive more support.” The pressure from the electorate might be to force change in the way Europe is managed and to take steps to boost growth.