Brussels, my love? Why Europe should care about the Spanish elections?

Host Méabh Mc Mahon with Garvan Walshe, Sandra Pasaric and Beatriz Rios - Copyright Euronews

By Méabh Mc Mahon & Elly Laliberte, Rina Zhubi

Published on 29/07/2023 - 07:00•Updated 04/09/2023 - 11:35

In this edition of Brussels, my love?, we discuss the recent Spanish elections that ended with what appears to be a political stalemate with the lack of an absolute majority leaving the nation and the continent asking, what happens next?

This week we were joined by Beatriz Rios, journalist for the Washington Post, Garvan Walshe, political strategist with the European Policy Centre, and Sandra Pasarić, a project officer at the Wilfried Martens Centre.

The snap Spanish elections on the 23rd of July left both Spain and Europe in a blanket of uncertainty. Although the People’s Party of Alberto Núñez Feijóo won, the right-wing bloc does not have enough seats for an absolute majority.

The magic number, 176 seats, was not achieved by either side. Now, Spain is struggling to form a government and this could even lead to another election. All of this while the country holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Our panelists dove into this explaining the fragmented situation that Spain is in right now.

With both parties not having enough seats to form the government, there is a risk for the Spanish state to exist in a political vacuum. “What we see is indeed a very fragmented parliament,” said Beatriz Rios.

“[It is] very unlikely to form a government in the next few months and probably the next election in the next few months,” she continued.

Sandra Pasarić said that “three words that can describe the situation in Spain is uncertainty, instability and also blackmail.”

For Garvan Walshe, the negative campaigns and the polarisation between main parties fueled political uncertainty.

“It was a gamble and it failed. As a result, they alienated the other half of their support. So now that's why in the regional elections, they ended up with, you know, very, very small totals of the vote,” he said.

The Spanish elections were not the only topic of conversation. Our panel also tackled the recent southern European heat waves' effect on tourism and the most livable cities.

Watch ‘Brussels, My Love?’ in the player above for more.

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