For some it means catharsis. For others, irrelevance. But it is neither one scenario nor the other. The impact left by the inconclusive results of July 23 on the progress of the Spanish Presidency of the EU is limited, and poisoned. The technical work, which takes months of preparation, will not be affected by political uncertainty. But there is a dangerous sequel: that the electoral hurricane and the government uncertainty tarnish the semester and tarnish the image of the country.
The difficulty of forming a government or, ultimately, of repeating the elections at the end of the year threatens to contaminate the European climate with national smoke, a continuous state of campaigning and carelessness. The start of the Spanish Presidency was the EU-CELAC summit and it already left a worrying note. President Pedro Sanchezhe was absent from dinner to attend a rally and did not appear at the final press conference to attend another electoral act.
“The greatest risk we have is that Spain is going to be distracted at a crucial moment for the European Union,” he explains. Mortar Roadexpert in European politics and member of the Center for European Reform. The next few months are of vital importance for the community bloc. The clock is running with an almost paralyzed August, while high-voltage legislation faces its final stretch. Spain faces the difficult mission of arbitrating, convincing and generating consensus among its community partners on matters as divisive as the reform of fiscal rules or the asylum pact.
The reissue of a government led by Sánchez is the scenario that takes on the most weight. But this time a new variant has slipped in: the key to forming an Executive goes through Waterloo. The European Commission avoids any assessment of national policy debates. Much less to electoral results. But there is something that they do have tattooed at the Berlaymont, the headquarters of the European Commission: stability and predictability. The Italian knows it well Giorgia Meloniwhich after weeks of uncertainty and some mistrust due to its ultranationalist postulates, was received with honors in the community capital, after certifying its “pro-European commitment”.
For this reason, in Brussels they not only look carefully at the formation of the Government in Spain, but also at what type of Government. And an unstable and fragile one can be very bad news in times when its main powers walk without strong leadership. The Germany of Olaf Scholz sinks in a crisis of authority, the Poland of Mateusz Morawieckii continues his clash with Brussels and the France of Emmanuel Macron imposes its geopolitical vision of the world by going beyond the common line, as was seen with China.