00:00And the imminent elections in Spain are of course the talk of the town here in Brussels this morning
00:04with many wondering how this will impact EU affairs and daily business here. For more analysis
00:09I'm joined now by Javier Cabonel, Director of Future Policy Lab at the European Policy Centre
00:15Think Tank here in Brussels. Good morning Javier, thank you so much for joining us. So the countdown
00:19is on to these elections and we're seeing now you know the Pepe doing very well in the polls,
00:24the Vox also gaining ground. What does that tell us about the political mood in Spain?
00:28I mean the political mood in Spain is not so different than the political mood anywhere else
00:32in Europe. I mean there's this big anti-incumbency, anti-establishment sentiment. Pedro Santos has been
00:37in government for nearly eight years which means that you know that's a lot of time to become part
00:41of the establishment of course and so there's of course some things that are specific to Spain.
00:46So Spain is doing very well in unemployment or economic growth but it's doing very badly in
00:50housing but in general it's not so different than the rest of you know the European sentiment which
00:55is pretty pretty against politicians. And what would a Pepe Vox government actually mean for Spain's
00:59domestic policies? So in domestic policies what we can expect for example in terms of housing is a
01:06much more market-based approach to this kind of measures. We would of course see a much more tougher
01:10position on migration so Vox is a very kind of anti-EU, anti-gender, anti-green and anti-migration
01:17party. So in this sense we would see a tougher position on migration and increasing defence spending
01:23for example so it would definitely be against Sanchez policies in a lot of respects.
01:28And what's Pedro Sanchez's right do you think to call this election now?
01:32Well that's a good question. We don't know but I will say something. If I were an advisor to the
01:37Socialist Party two weeks ago I would have never told them to open with housing elements. So this would
01:41be probably one of the biggest policy failures of of this administration and now it's it's most kind
01:47of election kind of claim right. So he was able to convert a weakness into a strength. Will this be
01:54enough? We do not know but at least this kind of tells us something about Sanchez political mastery to
01:59you know turn difficult situations on their head. And this of course would have major implications for
02:05Europe these elections. How could EU policy be impacted and daily business here? So I think the main
02:11issue is that Spain would probably come back to the again right-wing consensus that Europe is having
02:16at the moment. So in terms of migration in terms of different spending Sanchez was definitely outside
02:21of the consensus and it would probably fold there. I think also a big issue is the budget. So Spain
02:26is
02:26one of the most pro-European also and in pro increasing the budget of the EU. And I don't think
02:32that a PPVox government with a far-right party and Feijó who's not really focused on EU and
02:37international politics is more focused on domestic politics would really press for you know an
02:41increase in EU budget. And we've heard EU diplomats this morning saying already it's becoming a
02:46distraction because of course there's so much that needs to get done even the long-term budget as
02:49well which is currently under discussion here. Well yeah I mean every election is a distraction
02:53and every election always comes you know at a difficult moment where difficult decisions have
02:57to be made. So I think this is kind of normal on the day-to-day but I think Sanchez
03:01was definitely
03:01thinking about you know this big housing crisis and what would be more electoral successful for
03:07for him and that's why he called the elections and I think that's what you know to be honest
03:10anyone politician would do. And just a final point on that housing because housing is also being
03:13discussed and debated in the European Parliament today because the EU is finally rolling out this
03:17EU affordable housing. How critical is the situation in Spain now for young people?
03:21So it's pretty critical especially especially for young people again this is not something that is
03:25particular to Spain but it's definitely more problematic in Spain. Also we have a big concentration
03:30of economic growth in the big cities which means that these are extremely well you know occupied
03:35and also there's a big issue in Spain which is that it is sunny and it's an attractive country which
03:40means that we have a lot of you know northern European people coming to Spain with higher salaries which
03:44means that sometimes the locals can be priced out especially in cities like Barcelona or Valencia
03:49and in the coast. So there are some specificities about Spain's housing crisis but to be honest it's
03:54broadly shared with the rest of Europe. Okay Javier Carbonella from the European People's
03:58The European Policy Centre think tank here in Brussels thank you so much for your analysis.
