„Bizonyítsuk be, hogy tévednek” - üzeni a spanyol gazdasági miniszter az USA kritikáira
A spanyol gazdasági miniszter szerint az európaiaknak egységesen kell fellépniük és az integrációra kell összpontosítaniuk. Csak így válaszolhatnak a Trump-adminisztráció véleményére, hogy a kontinens gazdaságát megfojtja a túlzott szabályozás és a gyenge vezetés.
00:00Spain is the fastest growing economy among the euro area expected to see GDP growth of 2.9%
00:14this year extending explosive growth since 2021 to debrief on 12 minutes with we're joined by the
00:22Spanish economy minister Carlos cuerpo minister thank you so much for joining us obviously you've
00:29had a very strong growth performance but before we get into that I want to ask you about the national
00:34security strategy that was put out by the US government they say Europe is weak how do you
00:40respond well you know there is an easy response I think to statements documents that come from
00:47abroad is that we need to somehow go from reacting to outside shocks to really get to action there is
00:55urgency to really provide and to really push for our policy agenda and we should be talking we
01:00should be having specific deadlines we should be moving ahead with our roadmap but when they tell
01:06you and you're the Spanish economy minister and also an important country in the European structure
01:11when you hear they are weak the leadership is weak there's too much regulation there's
01:16successive migration the green policies are wrong they are not growing are you offended well you
01:22know this is very personal but the reaction that it instills in me is a reaction of really proving
01:28them wrong okay I think that's what we should be moving and that's why we have to really enact all
01:33those policies and start moving that that's that's I think that's a proper reaction to all these
01:37statements we have to keep on moving there's a question permeating in Brussels which says this
01:42has nothing to do with national security it's political interference and the goal of this
01:46administration is to dismantle the EU from within is that a credible threat well again I think
01:51Europeans were very much aware of the importance of unity within the EU and how much the European
01:57Union protects us and I think from the Spanish perspective that's a there is no case whatsoever in
02:03terms of really thinking about any other scenario but going ahead in terms of integration further
02:08integration within the EU we've seen this year this issue of unanimity is becoming a real problem in
02:14the EU is unanimity killing the EU from within that's a real threat well again I think we are trying to find
02:20ways on important decisions such as the funding for Ukraine to avoid the blocking of these support
02:27and we will find it I'm sure in the next few weeks we will find ways to in the first and assets will
02:32happen I think in the end we will be able to go ahead with the ensuring financing for Ukraine which
02:38is the most important element at this point because it has to do with Ukraine security but also with
02:42European security and thus European economy you're saying funding you're not saying the reparations
02:46loan so that means maybe it's not a reparations loan is something else the Belgians continue to
02:50say we don't like it you know we're working hard to be able to go ahead with the reparations loan
02:55from the Spanish side we're pushing ahead as well we think that there is space to go ahead both legally
03:01and politically we will have to again go ahead together with our colleagues with the rest of
03:06the member states and see to what extent again we can do that in the next few weeks okay and we've got
03:11started talking about Spain there's been a real reversal between the core and the south how sustainable
03:16having said that it's a three percent GDP growth for this country well it's not just a short-term
03:21story it's now a structural change in the Spanish economy and how we are being able to lift up our
03:27potential GDP growth which is the key for sustainability of our public finances as well going
03:31ahead so there is it's not just being able to get out of COVID without scars but really modernizing our
03:37economy that's the actual success story of Spain how long can you keep it up though so what we're
03:42aiming at is a potential GDP growth of around two percent which is doubling pretty much what we had
03:48pre-COVID so that's essential that's key for us you know very well however your critics would say
03:52there is no structural story it's European money and a boom in tourism what do you respond to that
03:57well there are many signals to actually look at where you can see the structural change for example you
04:03talked about tourism but what we have now in Spain is a boom in non-tourism services which are higher
04:08value-added services actually we export more despite of being in record years in tourism we export more
04:15in non-tourism services which are IT financial accounting services than in tourism so the jobs are going to
04:21basically high end sectors innovation Spain is the third fastest growing country in terms of its startup
04:30ecosystem for the past three years so that's all these indicators really pointing towards the
04:34structural change but the funding from the European Union obviously after the pandemic played a big role
04:38in the economy you also can see that those the funding the next generation EU which is a program
04:45built around it will end next year in 2026 what impact is this going to have in Spain so we have
04:50a fully fledged structural reform agenda labor market business environment startup law that are creating
04:56the conditions also for this growth to be sustained going forward and then on the investment side a
05:01strong investment push 80 billion in transfers for Spain so that we could actually really put the
05:07stress on those areas that we think are sectors of the future including the digitization and the green
05:12of course energy which are the key vectors for Spain also going forward so you're not concerned this
05:17funding is no longer there and that's going to have a negative impact on you well you know there there are
05:21two elements here so one is we will be discussing the medium-term financial framework for the EU and
05:27that will start actually in December in the European Council as well and we think that there is need for
05:32Europe to be somehow forward-looking and ambitious in the in terms of the size of its budget you know very
05:39well that Draghi has been putting on the table financing needs for our investments that are above five percent of
05:45our GDP and our budget barely reaches two percent and that's including all different items so we need
05:51to somehow be consistent on both fronts we'll be fighting for a for an ambitious MFF you also call for
05:57joint debt and of course and there are many elements associated with the element of mutualization of
06:03or joint issuance of debt one of them is to reinforce of course the euro as a strong currency going forward
06:11because what we've seen is that we need a liquid market in terms of your denominated debt and that
06:16will come again as well from from further mutualizing debt or from further issue and just to end this
06:23chapter before we move on on the Spanish economy in particular there's the numbers which objectively
06:28are very good but there's also the politics at the start of the year I remember you told me we
06:32will have a budget we are going to present is going to be successful it's the end of the year there's
06:36no budget you've been rolling over constantly now your critics would say this is not just wrong but
06:41it's undemocratic well you know we are now in the process of really putting forward the draft budgets
06:46but we've heard this before many times I know there is a specific a clear commitment from the president
06:52to actually beginning of next year really presents the draft budget in Congress so that we can discuss
06:58it and hopefully agree on it that you know also likely what we have in Spain is these provisions within
07:03our law to be able to roll over the budget from one year to the other and that actually
07:10but a rollover is an exemption the criticism is that this is becoming too normal and that is not very democratic
07:15what do you respond the constitutional obligation is to present a draft we will present a draft and from
07:19then on hopefully we can agree on it because it's important for citizens to be able to see what the
07:25policy objectives are in terms of money in terms of where we allocate what items are prioritized throughout the budget
07:31in fiscal terms we're complying also with EU fiscal rules so we we are within the group of good pupils with good
07:38students in terms of fiscal and also macro imbalances that's just as you know it's rare to not have a budget for so many years
07:43we know it's an it's an exception as you just called it and we will try again to to have it approved we will present it and
07:50we will we will go ahead with our partners and and associates within the the parliament to be able to to to get it ready
07:56but you're also different to the rest when it comes to migration in the European Union we've seen now much
08:01harder line obviously there's a conservative majority now there's pushing for repatriation
08:06asylum seeking has to be monitored much more closely family ramification it's the same in Spain however
08:12we're seeing the numbers when it comes to migration growing but you say that is adding to the economy
08:17is migration for you an opportunity or a problem migration is a big opportunity for Spain you don't
08:24think it's a problem on to the country I mean migration has proven to be a very positive factor
08:29for for these very positive figures in terms of growth for Spain and you can look at them in absolute
08:34terms so how much it has contributed to growth how much it has contributed to growth in per capita
08:39terms as well there is an analysis from the Bank of Spain saying that between 0.4 and 0.7 percentage
08:44points of per capita growth for the past three years which per capita growth in total was around
08:49three percentage points 0.4 to 0.7 were due to migration with thanks to migration but some
08:54markets because the vast majority of migrants coming to Spain are coming from Latin America so
08:58there's a cultural linguistical also to common ground some would say there are some cultures that
09:06are more difficult to assimilate than others and that is a problem when you hear that is there an
09:11undertone of racism in it well there is you think the migration policy coming out of the European Union
09:15has an undertone of racism no I think those sort of statements have an undertone of racism and and
09:21and I think we should really combat that through data and through evidence and you know what did what
09:27those statements or what what that evidence tells to me is that the better the integration policies
09:33the greater the in the positive impact focuses on returns in Europe is the migration policy wrong now
09:39that's true you know from the Spanish perspective that's a somehow the best way for us to be able
09:43to understand or put these discussions forward what we know is that the bigger the effort in terms of
09:50integrating migrants through regular flows the bigger the impact in social but also in economic
09:56terms and and when we regular is there is there a second chance or is this just a question of
10:00returning people back to their country that was agreed this week you know in in when we think about
10:05about the Spanish case you mentioned for example people from Latin America 70% of the migration flows
10:10are coming to Spain from Latin America but you know when you ask people there is a disconnect between the
10:15data and the reality in terms of migration and that leads immediately towards a more negative bias in terms of
10:22accepting positive migration policies or integration policies and let me just give you the data so this survey which
10:28was run last May by a think tank in the Basque country was asking Spanish people what they thought was a share of migrants in Spain
10:37so the answer was twice the actual share of migrants and they were asking what you think the unemployment rate within the migrant force is and the answer again was twice the actual unemployment rate
10:48and then the third question which was very interesting was what do you think is the share of migrants that is using transfers or subsidies or benefits from the states from the state and the answer was five times the actual rate so again there is a clear disconnect between the reality
11:03why is that happening well I think one of the elements that is happening is is of course is this false narratives and and this fake news in terms of the impact of migration that are leading towards a negative bias and that's not growing
11:18in the data and there are no negative implications to migration for you well again you just have to look at the figures and in our case when you look at the impact of migration of course there are challenges going forward and the integration challenge is a key one but you you face that challenge by really betting
11:33on integration and and development policies in origin countries to allow for those people to have opportunity job opportunities in their own countries and therefore also reduce the danger that they have to endure by
11:47by uh... in coming to our countries in an irregular manner and also reduce
11:51these irregular flows well minister thank you so much for joining us in uranians my pleasure
Be the first to comment