A framework defined in 1978
It was the 1978 constitution that set the rules for the political field. Since that date, Spain has become a constitutional monarchy with Felipe VI as head of state, succeeding his father Juan Carlos I, after his abdication in 2014. He does not govern and his powers are limited: as head of the army, he ratifies laws and appoints the president of the government. The president of the government is the head of the executive branch. Appointed for four years, he is the leader of the parliamentary majority or of a government coalition that allows him to be invested and to pass laws. Legislative power is exercised by the Parliament or Cortes Generales, which is composed of the Congress of Deputies (Congreso de los diputados) and the Senate (Senado). The same constitution has transferred an important part of the decision-making power to the regions by establishing regional governments. Catalonia and the Basque Country were the first to be granted autonomy in 1979. In total, Spain now has 17 autonomous communities, established according to historical, cultural and linguistic criteria. Among these communities, two are exceptions: the Basque Country and Navarre. These two regions have fiscal autonomy. They have the capacity to regulate taxes and the autonomy to manage them. In return, the Economic Agreement establishes a quota that Navarre and the Basque Country must pay to the Spanish state to meet general expenses that are the exclusive competence of the central government, such as international relations, defence and the armed forces.
An increasingly fragmented Parliament
After the return of democracy, Spain's political system was characterized by a two-party system, with two major parties, the left-wing PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) and the right-wing PP (Partido Popular), alternating regularly in power until the early 2010s, each aided, from time to time, by the centre-right CIU (Convergència i Unió), when it did not obtain an absolute majority. But the severe economic crisis that Spain experienced in 2008 helped to change the situation, bringing about the emergence of the "indignados" movement on May 15, 2011, and reviving the regional nationalist movements. It was in 2015 that the arrival of two newcomers on the Spanish political scene, Ciudadanos (centre-right) and Podemos (far left), disrupted the classic two-party system, with each party responding to one of the elements of the crisis, Podemos in the social sphere and Ciudadanos in the national sphere. As a consequence of the results of the December 2015 legislative elections, Spain will experience in 2016, the longest governmental crisis in its history, with almost a year (315 days) of government "in office", managing current affairs. A crisis that will only be partially resolved by the election of Mariano Rajoy (PP) as president of the government, in October 2016, in an investiture vote requiring only a relative majority. This political instability will have a second episode in 2018. Mariano Rajoy was overthrown by a vote of no confidence, but his successor, Pedro Sánchez (PSOE), was not elected until January 2020. After winning two legislative elections without a majority, he will be invested with a simple majority, thanks to the abstention of the ERC, Catalan pro-independence left, and will form a PSOE-Podemos coalition. It was in December 2018 that another party emerged, Vox, far right, until then absent from the political spectrum of Spain, which prided itself on this specificity within Europe. Escaping almost all the radar of the polls, it will get its first 12 representatives in the Andalusian regional elections to become almost a year later the third political force in Spain in the general elections of November 2019, surpassing Ciudadanos and Podemos. And by granting it 13 seats (compared to 1 before), the Castilla y León regional elections of February 13, 2022 made it a key element in this autonomy which translated into its participation in the governing coalition, led by the PP. In the last Spanish general elections, another movement came to embody the path of España vaciada through a seat obtained by Teruel Existe. And other movements such as Soria Ya, from this platform, also broke through in the last regional elections in Castilla y León. This fragmentation, combined with full proportional representation, does not make it easy to nominate candidates.
The challenge of employment, especially precarious employment
While Spain enjoyed a period of strong growth between the late 1990s and early 2000s (+3.5% per year), it was particularly hard hit by the global crisis of 2008. This led to the implosion of its real estate bubble, with a drop of more than 25% in construction in one year, a particularly damaging figure in a country where the weight of the construction sector is extremely important. With the collapse of the stock market, the unemployment rate will exceed 21% in June 2011 (compared to less than 8% in 2007) and it is in June 2012 that it will obtain from the European Union a rescue plan for its financial sector via a credit line of 40 billion euros. Initiated in 2013, the economic recovery continued in 2015, marked by a 3.5% increase in its GDP, above the average for the euro zone (+2%). An economic recovery that has been accompanied by an increase in inequality, since it is estimated that in 2017, half of the GDP was concentrated in the hands of less than 1% of the population (0.7%) and that at the same date, Spain had twice as many "very rich" as before the crisis. While there are also high rates of child poverty, the recurring problem in the Spanish economy is the labour market, with high unemployment, especially among young people, and a massive presence of very low-paid temporary contracts (double the European average).While the unemployment rate has fallen considerably over the past decade, from a high of 24.79% in 2013 to 13.2% in 2020, it is still much higher than the French rate (8% in 2020) and that of the euro zone (8.4%). And youth unemployment also remains at a very high level: 37.1% for men under 25 and 39.7% for women (INE 2020 figures), the highest of all European Union countries. In order to tackle the structure of the labour market, the labour reform law was presented and adopted in extremis on 4 February 2022. The main objectives are to limit the number of temporary contracts and their systematic renewal, to increase the proportion of permanent contracts and to facilitate training. This fight against precarious work also aims to meet the European Commission's requirement in this area. Since this reduction was a prerequisite for the payment of the 12 billion euros of European funds allocated in the coming months, under the recovery of the Covid crisis
Towards a renewal of the tourism model ?
In 2019, for the seventh consecutive year, Spain has again broken a record for receiving foreign tourists with more than 83.7 million visitors, which is an increase of 1.1% compared to 2018 and an increase in spending of 2.8% (Figures INE/2020). The year 2018 had allowed it to move to second place in the world in terms of receiving tourists, behind France. It still occupied this position in 2019 (France: 90 million tourists). With still as the main sending countries: the United Kingdom, Germany and France and as the main receiving provinces, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Canaries followed by Andalusia, the Valencian Community and the Community of Madrid. Positive for the economy since this sector generated at that time about 12% of GDP but also many extremely temporary contracts, this very steady growth has been accompanied in some regions affected by a more massive tourism, a feeling of "saturation" that has resulted in anti-tourist demonstrations, in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Basque Country. Massification that many tourism professionals attribute to the sometimes galloping growth of tourist apartments, especially illegal. On the occasion of the Fitur 2020, the great meeting of Spanish tourism held in Madrid at the beginning of the year, these same tourism professionals have asked the question of the future of Spanish tourism in the next after many decades that have rather seen the development of the tourist model Sol y Playa. With some alternative tracks as a promotion of the destination throughout the year and not only from May to October or the development of circuits of the interior, as El Camino de Vera Cruz, the path of the True Cross, covering 900 km from Puente de la Reina in Navarra to Caravaca de la Cruz, in the Murcia region. Marked by the Covid pandemic, the year 2020 was of course the black year of Spanish tourism with the arrival of just under 19 million foreigners, 77% less than the previous year (Source INE). And on this occasion, the French became the first foreign visitors in number, with Catalonia remaining the main host region. The country has adopted a rescue plan for this sector. In 2021, the country received 30 million tourists, a recovery of 64% compared to 2020. And hopes to recover the 2019 figures in 2022, focusing on a new model of tourism development with an emphasis on quality, digitization and respect for the environment. It remains to be seen whether the intentions will be maintained with the return of the good economic days
