Spain 2024: an election year

We begin an overview of European countries at the dawn of the year 2024. Today, Spain with the decryption of Juan Jose Dorado, Spanish correspondent journalist in Paris.

Focus today in European microphone on Spain, for this entry into 2024, with Juan Jose Dorado, Spanish correspondent journalist in Paris.

franceinfo: Which Spain in 2024?

Juan Jose Dorado : A Spain with a government that will try to survive. A government which is in great difficulty at the level of the Spanish National Assembly, Las Cortes, since it is still a coalition government, socialist, until today. There, we don’t know what it will be like in two weeks, in three weeks or in two months, because what’s more, in Spain, there are elections, it’s an election year.

In a few weeks, in February, you have the elections in Galicia where the Conservative Party in opposition today in Madrid, is given with an absolute majority to the Galician government.

Because the head of the Conservative Party, Mr Feijo, is Galician?

Absolutely, so the Socialist Party will try to limit the damage so to speak. And then, before the European elections, in June, there will be elections in the Basque Country. So, the Basque Country is important because it is complicated.

And it’s complicated, because the Basque independence parties support the government in Madrid, with two independence parties?

There are two, you are right. The Basque nationalist party, right-wing conservative, is the heir party, and the armed wing, Bildu, which is more far-left. And therefore these parties will necessarily want to govern in the Basque Country. And so there are going to be problems with the central government. And then we are expecting elections this year in 2024, also certainly in Catalonia.

Is this going to be a festival?

The festival, you are absolutely right. A priori, these elections are planned for the year 2025, April 2025. But everything suggests that there will be elections in 2024. Already, because the two Catalan independence parties which support the amnesty law which must be discussed in the Spanish Parliament, the Esquerra Republicana party, that is the left and Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia), the party of Mr. Puigdemont which, for the moment, is still on vacation near Waterloo.

So, these two parties will want to recover their hegemony on the side of Catalonia, therefore many elections with a minority government and many problems in perspective.

How are the European elections shaping up in Spain?

We’re starting to have a little idea. Already, what seems complicated is that the Socialist Party which, five years ago, in 2019, won these European elections, can do so again. The Conservative Party, the People’s Party is clearly rising in voting intentions for the European elections.

We are still a long way from June. In any case, this will add to Spanish domestic politics. Spanish voters are unhappy because there was this proposed amnesty law, because life is expensive in Spain today. The government will extend a certain number of aid measures for the economy, what we call the crisis economy. But also the Spanish government wants to approve an increase in VAT, for example on electricity and gas.

So, for the Spanish, economically, it is not very flamboyant either. So all of this, perhaps, will be felt in the various elections which will take place, and in particular the European elections next June.