Spanish foreign policy monitor: January-March 2012

Spain’s foreign policy has yet to experience any radical changes since the Popular party (PP) gained power, after almost eight years of Socialist government. In 2004, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s first decision was to withdraw troops from Iraq. In comparison, Mariano Rajoy’s first 100 days have been characterised by a low international profile.
There are two reasons for this.

The first is the difficult economic situation, making all government efforts become subordinate to a central objective: emerging from the recession. The second is the government’s desire to distance itself from the Socialist administration’s grand international pronouncements, which the PP criticised as being of an ‘ideological’ nature - notably the Alliance of Civilisations, but also a firm commitment to international cooperation. Although this criticism could suggest that the international outlook of the new administration would change significantly, this has not been the case so far.

On the contrary, Spain’s discrete international profile and the calls for a ‘state foreign policy’ have been the most noticeable features during these first months. The setting
imposed by the economic crisis has also dictated the most significant features to date: strengthening Europe as the main external reference, the significant reduction in available resources and impetus for the ‘Marca España’ (Spain Brand) branding effort which aims to articulate the
country’s economic and public diplomacy efforts.