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

THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 24 parliament in the European elections is directly proportional to the votes obtained, using the D’Hont method, the substantial increase in bal- lot papers expected will reduce the number of seats for the nationalist parties, as well as for VOX, though in both cases they will benefit from the fact that there is no minimum thresh- old for entering into the calculation (a situation that is set to change in five years, in accordance with community regulations). Therefore, the vast majority of Spain’s 59 seats in the next European Parliament will go to groups from the traditional pro-European coali- tion (European People’s Party, Party of European Socialists, Liberals, Greens) and to a lesser ex- tent, to United Left. Spain, then, will make only a minimum con- tribution to the increase in anti-European and populist MEPs and other countries (Germany, France, Italy, and so on) will do so to a much greater extent. That will bolster the country’s position in the Union and the debate over its future. As for the role of the main Spanish parties in their respective parliamentary groups, the PSOE may well comprise the biggest delegation among the Socialists, while the PP will suffer a strong decline in the EPP and Ciudadanos will make appreciable progress among the Liberals, as will Podemos in United Left. All that is vital for occupying positions of major responsibility in the groups and in the chamber itself, which should contribute to an influential Spanish pres- ence in the European Parliament, recovering ground lost in previous terms. Spain’s European policy as part of its foreign policy The pre-eminence of European policy in Spain’s foreign policy since the arrival of the new gov- ernment has not been limited solely to describ- ing the executive as pro-European among its three main distinguishing traits. It has been particularly important that the foreign minister was previously the President of the European Parliament, the head of the PSOE ticket in the European elections of 2004 and a member of the Constitutional Convention. A symbolic gesture was the change in his Ministry’s name, which is now called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation. Fortunately, however, the traditional struc- ture of the Office of the Secretary of State for the EU in the Ministry has been maintained, without entertaining the idea of any experi- ments. Finally, it is worth pointing out the creation of the post of Secretary General for International Affairs, EU, G20 and Global Security in the Prime Minister’s Office, to excellent effect. He acts as a Sherpa to the prime minister in all those spheres.