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Unstable Preferences and Policy Changes: Spain

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The Politics of the Eurozone Crisis in Southern Europe

Abstract

This chapter provides an account of the positions of Spanish policy-makers towards the major debates related to the recent Eurozone crisis and, furthermore, how these positions were developed through interactions with leading actors. The chapter focuses on the Greek bailout, the creation of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the incorporation of a debt brake into the Constitution of Member States. Attention is paid to the how, the why and the ‘major influences’, against the backdrop of the Great Recession. Liberal Intergovernmentalism (LI) is combined with New (and Historic) Institutionalism and Garbage Can Theory (GCT) to interpret and explain decisions taken. Support for the narrative developed here comes from the triangulation of primary sources (interviews to key insiders present in the decision-making process) and secondary sources (newspaper clippings, official reports, memoirs of the main actors, academic literature and political debates in Congress).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This was acknowledged even by the then economic Vice President (VP) Pedro Solbes (2013: 371). On the general effects of the crisis, see Gallie (2013). For the case of Spain, see Jurado (2018), Marí-Klose et al. (2017), Guillén et al. (2016, 2019), Del Pino and Gago (2019).

  2. 2.

    According to Andrews and Sánchez (2011: 212), Spain ranked first in home ownership rates among OECD countries in 1990 (77.8%) and remained first in 2004 (83%). Solbes (2013: 333) highlights different factors explaining the high demand for houses: propensity to home ownership in Spain, cheap money to borrow from banks, the (false) belief that investing in houses was safe (prices grow, never fall) and more money in the pockets of families due to high levels of employment.

  3. 3.

    According to PM Rodríguez Zapatero (2013: 119, 290), there were at least two ‘invitations’ for Spain to ask for the bailout—June 18, 2010, by IMF President Strauss-Kahn, and November 3, 2011, by German PM Merkel.

  4. 4.

    The elections gave the PSOE 169 seats, PP 154, IU 2, CiU 10 and other parties 15 seats out of 350. For an analysis of the Socialist government period, see Sánchez-Cuenca (2012).

  5. 5.

    See Mazo and Marcos (2009).

  6. 6.

    See http://www.minhafp.gob.es/es-ES/Areas%20Tematicas/Presupuestos%20Generales%20del%20Estado/Paginas/FondoparaelEstimulodelaEconomiayelEmpleo.aspx. See as well Doncel (2009) and Rodríguez Zapatero (2013: 166, 168).

  7. 7.

    See Banco de España (2007: 16–17). See also Solbes (2013: 354, 372, 391, 395), OEPG (2007).

  8. 8.

    One of the exceptions was Rajan (2005), and Roubini (2010, see as well Mihm 2008). For more exceptions, see http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fortune/0808/gallery.whosawitcoming.fortune/index.html.

  9. 9.

    See Salmon (2010a, b), Congreso (2010a), and Rodríguez Zapatero (2013: 13–128).

  10. 10.

    See http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/economic_governance/sgp/pdf/30_edps/104-03/2009-02-18_es_104-3_en.pdf.

  11. 11.

    Moravcsik and Schimmelfennig (2009: 69), however, understand that ‘the fundamental goals of states—or “state preferences”—are neither fixed nor uniform’.

  12. 12.

    See Torreblanca (2015), Fernández-Albertos (2015), and Lapuente (2015).

  13. 13.

    See http://www.eurogersinfo.com/espagne/actes410.htm and Congreso (2010c: 5).

  14. 14.

    See http://www.eurogersinfo.com/espagne/actes410.htm.

  15. 15.

    The Spanish economic minister was Elena Salgado, who replaced Pedro Solbes after his resignation in May 2009 for discrepancies in the economic policy (Solbes 2013: 403–408). According to one insider, ‘she was more of an agent of the President’s vision of the economy, she was less autonomous. The points of view of the President, which were much more political, got imposed’ (interview 5).

  16. 16.

    Ley general de estabilidad presupuestaria (General Act of Financial Stability).

  17. 17.

    Some of the interviewees indicated that there was a lack of societal debate.

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Acknowledgements

The authors want to acknowledge Leonardo Morlino and Cecilia Sottilotta for their editorial comments, Marta Parades for her generosity in providing data of national and European sentiments, Paul Rigg for his linguistic corrections, Marco Lisi for a couple of references, and Jean-Baptiste Harguindéguy and Ana Marta Guillén for useful suggestions. The first author also wishes to thank Prof. Ferràn Martínez and Teresa Astolfi for their helpful contacts with Spanish authorities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Madrid, Spain

    Xavier Coller

  2. Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain

    Fernando Ramírez de Luis

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  1. Xavier Coller
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  1. LUISS Guido Carli, Rome, Italy

    Leonardo Morlino

  2. The American University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Cecilia Emma Sottilotta

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Coller, X., de Luis, F.R. (2020). Unstable Preferences and Policy Changes: Spain. In: Morlino, L., Sottilotta, C. (eds) The Politics of the Eurozone Crisis in Southern Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24471-2_7

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