The right, and especially the far right, are trying to instil in public opinion the idea that Spain is an unmitigated disaster. On Saturday, they demonstrated in Madrid's Plaza Colón, where else? The coincidence of two events in less than seven days, such as the blackout and massive train delays, initially supports this argument. Also, the political instability caused by the government's lack of a majority in Congress. The underlying message is that the country is on the brink of collapse, and to achieve this, they are twisting reality into a caricature.
The opposition will always say that things are bad and that they will only improve with them in power. So far, so good. It happens in every country. What is happening in Spain is that the Partido Popular is immersed in a catastrophic drift that gained strength under Pablo Casado and that Alberto Núñez Feijóo has only intensified. Obviously, they have to take advantage of the April 28 blackout, especially if its reasons are still unknown. And yes, there's no way to present it as an innocuous or irrelevant event.
Their criticism stems not from having a different energy model, but from this desire to claim that Spain is going down the drain. It doesn't matter that Spain has been growing at a much faster rate than the rest of the European Union for three years. It doesn't matter that Spain was the largest economy with the fastest growth in the world in 2024, according to the analysis conducted by the OECD, the IMF, and the European Commission. It doesn't matter that a key factor was the low price of energy in relative terms thanks to the Iberian exception that the government obtained after pressuring the EU and which the PP was against (of course!).
All of this data is contradicted by Feijóo's speech, when a few months ago he was able to claim that "GDP per capita hasn't risen; we've been at the bottom of Europe since 2018." This is false. Logically, GDP per capita takes population into account. Even in this regard, the PP peddles facts that only an economic illiterate can defend.
They say this to challenge "the lie of growth." What conservative media outlets like the Financial Times and The Economist are saying must be a lie. They're surely sold out to Sanchezism. For those who think that the GDP doesn't reflect a country's economic status, just note that this isn't true in the case of employment and public debt. And now tell me those two factors are irrelevant.
On the political level, the baseless sensationalism is no less important. Spain is no longer a democracy. The Constitution has been suspended. Freedom of expression is suffering like never before. The threat of autocracy is greater than ever. "They've sneaked a dictatorship in through the back door and we're at the beginning of it," said Isabel Díaz Ayuso. The PP has been taking these complaints to Brussels for years, secretly hoping that the European Commission will treat Spain like Hungary. Without any success.
The paradox of this failed strategy is that it will likely benefit Vox more than the PP. Vox's is a protest vote, a no to everything, fuelled by the portrayal of Spain as a failed state that must be saved at all costs. Periodically, right-wing media outlets feature articles quoting PP leaders convinced that they have finally succeeded in gaining votes from the far right, most recently through Vox's support for Donald Trump. They then describe an apocalyptic outlook in Spain, which contributes to Vox voters believing that a radical option is needed to confront Sánchez, one that doesn't involve the soft Feijóo.
And we know that the PP can’t rule Spain without Vox.
Many surveys and studies reveal a growing loss of support for democracy among sectors of the population. Some of these studies reveal, above all, the existence of biased questions that influence responses. Given a CIS poll that says many young people would be willing to accept an authoritarian regime if it guaranteed them a better standard of living, one must ask how many dictatorships can do something like this. If this were true, the number of democracies would be fewer.
There are indeed issues, such as housing, where it's clear that Spain has regressed in the last two decades. It's objectively more difficult to buy or rent a home now than it was back then, and this has a harsh impact on younger people. The consolidation of certain progressive values, or those achieved thanks to progressive governments, such as the right to abortion, has led to a spread of rebellious attitudes among young people on the right, who associate the current government with a series of values that only have negative consequences.
Throughout Europe, and also in the US, resentment has become a very profitable political tool. The far right builds its narrative of tension and polarization on the basis of this social resentment, generating a context in which, indeed, catastrophism has a following. Inequality, the lack of good jobs, and dissatisfaction with unfulfilled promises open the door to fear and resentment. Job insecurity may not be as severe now as it was in the 1990s, but that means nothing to people if it doesn't help them buy a home.
For democratic institutions to continue to enjoy public support, they must be able to solve people's problems. This is the essential element of the debate, which is why we must distrust those who demand more authoritarianism, as if all citizens were minors. We must also refute the prophets of doom who claim that Spain is falling apart and can only be saved with a firm hand. They are the ones who stir up social resentment and seek to create enemies among the most vulnerable groups, starting with immigrants.
This country is much better than its false defenders claim.
(Based on an editorial from Iñigo Sáenz de Ugarte, assistant editor of elDiario.es)
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