The visit of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Moncloa inaugurated a week in which the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will maintain contacts with the main European leaders, with the future European presidency of Spain on the horizon. The understanding between Scholz and Sánchez goes back a long way because both have coincided in numerous meetings between European Social Democratic leaders, but this visit is the German leader’s first as chancellor. In it, the two leaders said they shared “the vision of social and economic progress to restore dignity and respect to our fellow citizens, to young and old workers (…) the push for social Europe and the defense of our social democratic values and principles. This harmony will be reaffirmed with the resumption of the Spanish-German summits, after last year’s was suspended due to the pandemic. Although beyond the coincidences, there are not a few differences in approach that do not allow us to predict with such certainty that the two capitals are going to row in the same direction. La Moncloa maintains that social democracy has come out “reinforced” with the management of the pandemic crisis and Sánchez does not stop repeating that the solutions applied to the crisis are in this sense very different from the neoliberal treatment that was chosen in 2008. But they are not the same ones that a Government, like the Spanish, which integrates the political space located to the left of the socialists, and another that has discarded this option and has preferred a coalition completed by the Greens and the Liberals.
It is true that Sánchez described the visit as The beginning of a new stage” in relations between the two countries. “Spain and Germany have achieved great things when we have gone hand in hand”, said the President of the Government at the joint press conference, adding that “now we put this harmony at the service of a greater cohesion of the European Union». Although it is worth remembering, in order to relativize this attempt to present a Berlin-Madrid axis as priority in Scholz’s international strategy and central to European politics, that the German chancellor has visited Madrid after having previously traveled to Paris, Rome, Brussels and Warsaw.
It is also necessary to point out that the Scholz-Sánchez tandem has not hidden discrepancies in some key aspects. Both leaders addressed the situation of the pandemic, the preparation of the NATO summit to be held in Madrid at the end of June, the reform of the EU’s fiscal rules, the European migration pact and the threat of Russia in Ukraine, topic in which agreed to request a de-escalation of the presence of Russian troops on the Ukrainian borders and in rejecting a military intervention. But the non-coincidences became clear when addressing the future of the stability rules that limit public spending, which Sánchez would like to see relaxed and Scholz vindicated. Or the willingness to reform the European electricity market, a priority for the President of the Spanish Government and unnecessary for the German Executive.
The time is ripe for social democratic governments guide the EU towards inclusive policies and social content. And the context is positive for Spain to exert an influence according to its weight. It will be able to do so if it is capable of presenting reliable credentials to the European partners, ensuring economic growth and fulfilling its commitments. That, and not a rotating presidency, is a merit that could be presumed.
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