Madrid faces challenges in Brussels

A WISE START (El País)

Spain will now preside over the European Union for the fourth time in its history. Though José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s government has hitherto seen the presidency in essentially self-serving terms (as an antidote to the wearing exercise of power), its outlook seems to have taken a turn for the better in recent weeks. What the EU needs most at the present juncture is a steadfast commitment to Europe.

Spain is tasked with initiating the application of the Lisbon Treaty. Its decision to open up the political domain to the permanent president of the Council, Herman van Rompuy, and to the High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton, was a wise one. And the government cannot be accused of taking a back seat to them, as that would contradict the spirit, and even the letter, of the Lisbon Treaty.

To put the recession behind us and revive the job market, Zapatero’s avowed priority will be to coordinate economic policies and measures to stimulate job creation and fight unemployment, which has now hit 22.5 million Europeans. So he’s got his work cut out for him. One of the most sensitive decisions to be taken during Spain’s presidency will be whether to dispense with existing tax incentives, with regard to which member states’ interests and viewpoints are not aligned.

The EU is going to have to overcome the foreign policy paralysis it has been suffering from for several years. Its room for manoeuvre will be all the more limited during this half-year, in which it will be busy setting up its diplomatic service and formulating its foreign policy. A suitable agenda will determine its success or failure in this arena, as the international community has some fateful appointments scheduled for 2010, including the revision of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the next climate change conference.

A HAMSTRUNG PRESIDENCY (El Mundo)

The EU presidency is a huge responsibility for our country, which will have to steer the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. And that has hamstrung our EU presidency even before it got off the starting block.

First off, the Spanish presidency coincides with the start of Van Rompuy’s term of office as the first European Council president. And it will be up to him to take the European helm in this unprecedented situation of power-sharing with José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero as the rotating EU president, whose efforts will be by and large eclipsed as a result.

Under the terms of the Lisbon Treaty, moreover, we are to lose clout as a nation in the diplomatic domain. One thing’s for sure: the Spanish government faces a tremendous task, since how it works together with Van Rompuy, Ashton, the European Commission and European Parliament will determine whether the new treaty makes Europe an effective player, speaking with one voice in the international arena.

The most pressing challenge at the moment is coping with the deep recession in which the continent is engulfed. Zapatero has declared that his first priority will be to coordinate various measures to break out of the recession and start generating jobs again. Nonetheless, his credibility and capacity for leadership vis-à-vis other European leaders are seriously undermined by the very fact that our country is suffering from an 18% unemployment rate, which is twice the European average, and that the economic indicators put us at the bottom of the EU 27 pack. So how can other Europeans put their trust in our prime minister? He is not in the best position to lead talks on such crucial questions as the abolition of economic incentives, championed by countries like Germany, which would have a disastrous impact on Spain.

Aside from the economy, Europe needs to reassert itself as a major player in world governance. It cannot remain in its current state of insignificance, as evidenced all too lamentably in Copenhagen, where no-one heard what it had to say.

There is no denying that the EU presidency is a matter of state. And the opposition, spearheaded by Spain’s People’s Party, has grasped that point, offering its full support to the government.

Economy

Zapatero calls on wise men

The head of the Spanish government, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, "is seeking advice to attain his priority goal" for the Spanish Presidency of the European Union, i.e. "to strengthen European economic governance." To confront the crisis, reports El Pais, Zapatero has called upon Jacques Delors, former President of the European Commission, Pedro Solbes, former Commissioner of Economic Affairs and former Spanish Minister of the Economy and Finance, and Felipe González, a former leader of the Spanish government and Chairman of the think tank on the EU's future, formed in 2008.

According to El Pais, Zapatero, who is an "admirer of Delors," wants the "council of wisemen" to meet on a regular basis with the first meeting occurring on January 5th. In the columns of the Spanish daily, analyst Xavier Vidal-Folch remarks that the "father of the euro" Delors, who believes that monetary union should pave the way for a genuine economic union, will be able to contribute experience gained from three of the EU's "decisive successes": the single currency, the suppression of internal customs barriers and the policy of redressing the social and regional imbalances.