Five reasons why Spain is a time bomb for Europe: View
As I have explained in my book, It Is Not What It Is, there are 7 characteristics underlying Spanish society that keep the country from going forward. These characteristics are the reasons why Spain is at a critical juncture on all points.
In brief, these characteristics have created five potential time bombs at Spain's current juncture.
1. Inactive youth
According to the OECD, the percentage of youngsters who neither study nor work is at 26%. For years, people have been talking about them, but no one seems to talk with them. Their careers tend to progress from unemployment benefit to unemployment benefit.
On one side, society shows them that people with degrees don't necessarily go higher and further. On the other, they see the low salaries and unfair practices of employers. Many are demotivated and live with their parents, well into their 30s. Of the few young people who actually make it through university, a growing percentage is leaving Spain to live and work abroad. Spain is left with a future generation of unprepared, dependent people.
When an EU-country does not take care of its people, historical precedent suggests violent political or ideological actions can follow.
2. Bureaucracy
In 1978, a major initiative was put into place to decentralise the country. Spain's territory was split up into 17 autonomous regions, which are called comunidades aut'onomas. With this change, Spain got itself four levels of government: national, regional, provincial and local. And with this division, exercising control became increasingly difficult on all levels, mainly due to the many unnecessary jobs created everywhere.
Right before the introduction of the Euro, the number of public companies in Spain tripled. These unproductive organisations employ thousands upon thousands of people, cost tremendous amounts money and hinder transparency. As it turns out, many of these companies were also responsible for large parts of the debts that crippled Spain.
How does this impact the EU? EU corporations are having to navigate these complex and sluggish structures, and are unable to "cut and paste" their business templates into Spain. This hurts their efficiency and their profits. As Spain is the 4th largest EU-economy, this affects the overall performance of the EU.
3. Police services
There are more than 15 regional and national police services in Spain and they are not efficient at sharing information. Delays in sharing information regarding terrorist cells for example between the Guardia Civil and the Catalan police forces (Mossos d'Esquadra) can have devastating consequences and threaten the lives of EU citizens.
The unreliable flow of information flies in the face of Europe's mission to bring closer cooperation between police and the judiciary in criminal matters. How can a closer cooperation on an international level be realized, if there are communication issues at national level? Will the safety of the EU be jeopardized?
4. Judicial
The Spanish government and judicial apparatus are intertwined. As a result sentences handed out by judges can be easily reversed at the Supreme Court to protect prime politicians and their friends. "Modern Spain" has numerous examples of this practice.
When was the last time a sitting head of state was forced to testify as a witness in the corruption case of his own party, and still continue as the leader of the country? It's a challenge to recall this in any other European state, but it happened here in Spain only last year. Despite questions over prime minister Rajoy's testimony, the judge in the case has not followed up with additional requests for clarification. And Rajoy is in now way unique, many other Spanish politicians including former prime minister Jose Maria Aznar have had their own brushes with the law, although often, as in the case of the latter, charges didn't stick. I think it's somewhat obvious how this impacts the EU. Because politics and the judicial system are intertwined, fairness for citizens, immigrants and international businesses will not be respected in Spain. And Spain's reputation is also the reputation of the EU on a global scale.
5. Political
The standoff with Catalonia clearly demonstrates the flaws in politics in Spain. Both the central government and the Catalan government have shown the world they are incapable of dialogue and/or solving the complex issues at hand.
The Partido Popular has pursued a campaign since 2006 to undo the autonomy statute for the Catalonia region, and after Rajoy's party came to power in 2011, they revoked the deal which had been modeled after the existing autonomy deal given to the Basque people. This has led to a stand off culminating in requests from the international community to intervene on behalf of both parties, as the PP has been viewed as abusing their power to remove political opponents. Big mistakes have been made on both sides and the tense situation is deadlocked. Why is this a time bomb? Catalonia could actually separate and if it were to come to pass, it could motivate other regions in Europe with similar issues to follow suit, threatening the stability of the EU.
Vincent Werner is a Dutch economist. He's been a resident in Spain for 17 years and he's collected his views of the country's main defaults for a book called 'It Is Not What It Is'.