The State of the European Union. The European Parliament faces its most important elections yet

SPAIN BEFORE A NEW EUROPEAN POLITICAL CYCLE 21 At the time of writing, the Party of European Socialists only has five members in the Council, those of Spain, Slovakia, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Sweden. As we can see, it is a limited number of countries that are in any case small in size. And for one reason or another some of their govern- ments (Romania, Slovakia and Malta) are to a certain extent questioned in Brussels. With the new government, then, Spain has taken on a new and significant role in the European Council and in the Council of the EU for having: – Projected an unquestionable image of pro- European commitment and pro-activeness. – ������������������������������������������ Come to form part of the pro-European van- guard made up of Berlin and Paris. – Served as a counterweight to the League against taking steps forward headed by the Netherlands and, on another level, the Visegrad Group. – Challenged the populist government where it most hurts (values, rights, migration). – ��������������������������������������������� Taken over leadership of a diminished social- ist family, breathing spirit into it amid its rela- tive political depression. Once the European election are held, regard- less of whether the Treaty is applied to reduce the College of Commissioners to two-thirds of the member states or, on the other hand, the current state of affairs is maintained so that there is one national from each member state, Spain will renew its presence there in terms of personnel and politically, with the departure of the PP’s Miguel Arias Cañete and the presuma- ble arrival of a Socialist. The role of the “Spanish commissioner” will depend on many factors, starting with their functions in the Commission, but it seems clear that Spain will aspire to the most important pos- sible. In fact, Spain will increase the socialist quota in the College of Commissioners, which is currently very small, and in the Council. Lastly, unless the letter invoking Article 50 of the Treaty for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal is cancelled, the European elections of 26 May will see 59 MEPs go to the Parliament in Strasbourg, that is to say five more than in 2014. The increase was secured in 2018 and large- ly redresses the previous imbalance against Spain in the application of the principle of de- gressive proportionality established for the com- position of the European Parliament, though it does not do so entirely (it would have been nec- essary to allocate 61 seats, not 59). The goal was actively pursued by all the political parties. A comprehensive view of Spain’s leading role in the EU From what has been said, it follows that Spain is currently in a condition to play the leading role in the EU that the Union requires. The country is emerging from the economic crisis, which means the end of a problem that was a source of embarrassment for its leaders when trying to get attention in the Union and which inevitably placed it in certain quarantine of credibility among the more solvent members. What’s more, its political problems are struc- turally limited, both as far as the crisis in Catalonia is concerned (the rule of law has dem- onstrated its capability) and the electoral rise of the far right. At the same time, there is a strong pro-Euro- pean consensus among the political and social forces and the public (see below).   And the government has rightly committed itself to a proactive pro-European line that is making it possible to match Spanish interests with European ones as a formula for success al-