Minister of the Economy and Digital Transformation since 2018 and First Vice-President of the left-wing government led by Socialist Pedro Sanchez since 2021, Nadia Calviño will be in Paris on Friday February 25 and Saturday February 26 for the meeting of European Ministers of finance. Former director general for the budget at the European Commission, this brilliant 53-year-old social-democratic economist is Spain’s trump card in Brussels, where her budgetary orthodoxy and her knowledge of the workings of Europe are reassuring. She explains to World how his country intends to use the money from the European recovery.
France wants to move forward with the relaxation of European budgetary rules and hopes to convince Germany. What is the position of Spain on this subject, whose debt amounts to 118% of GDP and the public deficit to 7.9%?
We want to play an active role in adapting the rules to the current reality and the future needs of the European Union [UE]. But it is not a question of returning to old debates and old trenches which in the past have led to a North-South approach, large countries against small countries, which is counterproductive. There is a broad consensus that we need to be realistic and pragmatic, that debt levels have risen dramatically in all countries as a result of the fiscal response to the pandemic [de Covid-19], and that we have to face a massive investment for the double transition, green and digital. All of this requires that we agree on the most appropriate fiscal framework to reduce our deficit and debt ratios, gradually, in order to maintain strong growth and job creation.
Spain is the main beneficiary country of the European recovery plan after Italy, with 69.5 billion euros in grants and as much in loans. If these funds are not used efficiently, the deepening of European budgetary solidarity could be called into question…
The recovery plan is obviously an extraordinary opportunity. We are aware that we have a great responsibility, as a country, but also vis-à-vis the whole of the EU, to know how to take advantage of it. This is why we have been working since July 2020 to put in place a framework that will allow us to approach investments in the most efficient way. We have made good progress in the reforms: the labor reform was approved at the end of 2021. It is the result of an agreement between the bosses and the unions and is essential to promote the creation of quality jobs. We are moving forward with the pension reform. And most of the reforms aimed at modernizing our productive fabric have begun their legislative journey.
You have 63.41% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.