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26/01/2009Spain: rich but not clubbable

Spain’s economy may have grown since 1970s, but its economic power has not been converted into international influence as seen from the G-20 meeting in November 2008.

Joining a select club is by definition a difficult task, but sometimes it can feel like an impossible one just like in the case of Spain where it took the government’s relentless efforts before it was allowed extraordinary presence in the G20 meeting in Washington in November 2008.

Even as statisticians argue whether the Spanish economy is the eighth largest in the world or the 12th, depending on which yardstick is used, what appears clear is that Spain's international representation is smaller than would seem warranted by its financial weight.

Critics are in no doubt: Spain's foreign policy lacks a genuine long-term strategy.

Nobody can deny Spain's spectacular growth in the last three decades. From its status as a developing country in the 1970s, Spain's GDP has since grown fivefold, aided by its joining of the European Union in 1986.

The country has climbed up the United Nations Development Index to 13th position. Eleven Spanish firms are among the world's 500 biggest companies; Banco Santander is the eighth-largest bank in the world, and BBVA ranks 16th. Spain is also the No 1 investor in Latin America.

"Ever since the transition [to democracy], growth has been spectacular; it is an economic miracle comparable to that of Ireland and postwar Germany," said Federico Steinberg, a professor at Madrid's Autonomous University and a researcher at the Real Instituto Elcano think-tank.

AFP PHOTO / MIGUEL RIOPA
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (R) talks with his Portuguese counterpart Jose Socrates in Zamora, on 22 January 2009, during their meeting before the XXIV Spain-Portugal summit. The leaders of Spain and Portugal gather for their annual summit, this year focusing on the global economic crisis. AFP PHOTO / MIGUEL RIOPA

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