SPAIN, EUROPE, AND THE WORLD—INTERVIEW WITH HE ANUNCIADA FERNÁNDEZ DE CÓRDOVA, THE AMBASSADOR OF SPAIN TO HUNGARY Alessandro D’Onofrio–Zsombor Szabolcs Pál, Budapest, 28 January 2021 The interview was conducted in Spanish and translated by Zsombor Szabolcs Pál.
Spain has become one of the most-affected countries since COVID-19 arrived in Europe. The Spanish government was among the first to propose an EU-level recovery fund for tackling the consequences of the pandemic and, thus, was vocal in making Next Generation EU a reality. Do you think that this could be the beginning of a new Europe and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Spain to undertake fundamental reforms? What are the main takeaways for Spain after the MFF negotiations? Under extremely difficult circumstances, the European Union exceeded all reasonable expectations in the face of an unprecedented series of events. The Next Generation EU Fund is a giant step towards strengthening our strategic autonomy and demonstrating that we are a powerful Europe. In April 2020, when 12
INTERVIEWS
there was an intense debate in the European Union, Spain presented a document that had an element of risk, for we did not know what reaction it would meet, but contributed to forging consensus, as could be seen later on. When nobody believed in it, the Spanish president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, was the first who spoke of the need for a recovery fund to get out of the socio-economic pit the pandemic has pushed us into. Reaching an agreement at the European Council meeting in December 2020 was the only way to make the resolution on both the multiannual financial framework and on our own resources come into effect from 1 January. We indeed are one of the main beneficiaries—just as Hungary is one of the main net beneficiaries of the cohesion and other funds and the multiannual financial framework. European funds are very important to our two countries—in fact, they form a substantial part of the budget approved in Spain for 2021. The Next Generation EU is an instrument that amounts to a total of EUR 750 billion. It is unique and unprecedented instrument not only due to its volume but also because it is the first time that the EU can mobilise the necessary resources, using the guarantees the member states must provide the European Commission with so that it can obtain funding on the financial markets. On 18 January 2021, Spain, which is expected to obtain approximately EUR 140 billion, presented the Economic and Financial Affairs Council with the first draft version of the recovery plan that it submitted to Brussels in April. Besides the planned investments, this document also contains an important
