Informe Elcano 26. European trade policy in a changing international environment

Coordinators: Enrique Feás & Federico Steinberg
Edited by: Elcano Royal Institute
2020

Both the nature of international trade and its governance have changed a lot in recent years. International exchanges are increasingly structured in value chains while services trade is gaining prominence. At the same time, the arrival of Donald Trump to the White House, his trade wars and the attitude of an increasingly assertive China, is eroding leaps and bounds the multilateral frameworks of international trade governance and opening the door to commercial and technological wars. In this new context, the EU is forced to redefine its commercial strategy and improve its tools to compensate and empower the losers of openness in order to increase the legitimacy of liberalization.

This report states that the EU must coalesce internally, increase the legitimacy of economic openness in the eyes of its citizens and act as a homogeneous block capable of leading the reform of the rules-based multilateral order. In parallel, it must continue to weave its network of preferential trade agreements to be prepared for an eventual - today possible - collapse of the multilateral system embedded in the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as for a division of the world economy into blocks within A neo-imperialist logic.

Spanish version: La política comercial europea ante un entorno internacional cambiante.

Informe Elcano 22. Why does Latin America matter?

Coordinator: Carlos Malamud
Edited by: Real Instituto Elcano
2018

The main object of this report is to draw the attention of the EU –meaning both the institutions of the organisation and the governments of its member states, their politicians, news media and public opinions– to the potential offered by Latin America and the various benefits the EU could derive from strengthening biregional relations. In order to throw more light on these issues, a range of pertinent data, analyses and observations will be offered over the course of the report that highlight the unity and diversity of Latin America, as well as many of its strengths and some of its weaknesses.

Spanish version: Informe Elcano 22. ¿Por qué importa América Latina?

Informe Elcano 20. The Spanish financial crisis: Lessons for the European Banking Union

Coordinators: Miguel Otero-Iglesias, Sebastián Royo & Federico Steinberg
Edited by: Elcano Royal Institute
2016

In the first years of the Global Financial Crisis, Spanish financial institutions were not as severely affected as those of other countries. However, their apparent success was short-lived. As the crisis intensified, Spain’s banking sector could not escape its dramatic effects. Our analysis of the Spanish crisis confirms a long-standing tenet: financial systems collapse when they take on too much risk and when they do not have sufficient capital in reserve to absorb the losses of their risky investments and loans.

This report examines the Spanish banking crisis and uses it to extract valuable lessons for the construction of the European Banking Union (EBU), which is a complex process that resembles in some respects the variety of actors and preferences encountered in the Spanish case.

The Marca España (Spain Brand) project at Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan

The first Expo of the 21st century is being held in Japan from 25 March to 25 September 2005, with the participation of 127 countries at the venues in Aichi prefecture. Spain's presence at the Expo has been managed by the Sociedad Estatal de Exposiciones Internacionales (SEEI), which was created in response to the strategic importance of projecting our country's image abroad, and is an outstanding occasion for both the public and private sectors to promote Spain in Japan. The aim of this manual, published by the promotors of the Marca España project (ICEX, Foro de Marcas Renombradas Españolas, DIRCOM and Elcano Royal Institute), is to enable visitors to make the most of the Spanish pavillion and to further their understanding of Spain and the Spanish. This is particularly important in a country such as Japan, where despite a frequently expressed sympathy towards Spain there is also a significant lack of real knowledge of its economic, political, social and cultural life.

Elcano Report: "Immigration: Priorities for a New Spanish Policy"

Coordinated by: Joaquín Arango & Rickard Sandell

The Elcano Royal Institute and the Instituto Universitario de Investigación Ortega y Gasset have jointly published the first 'Elcano Report' with the title Inmigración: Prioridades para una nueva política española (Immigration: Priorities for a New Spanish Policy). The publication has been co-ordinated by Joaquín Arango, Director of the Centro de Estudios sobre Migraciones y Ciudadanía of the Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset, and by Rickard Sandell, Senior Analyst for Demography, Population and International Migration at the Elcano Royal Institute. The 'Elcano Reports' are a new collection of research documents designed by the Elcano Royal Institute with the aim of fostering political debate on the major international issues facing Spain today. On this occasion the Institute's objective has been both to stimulate debate on the direction that Spanish immigration policy should take and to make a small contribution to that debate by presenting an objective and non-partisan analysis of the drawbacks of current Spanish immigration policies and outlining possible solutions.

Report on the 'Marca España' Project (in Spanish)

The ‘Marca España’ project aims to coordinate the various public and private initiatives currently in progress to promote Spain’s international image. The idea is to transmit to both the business and institutional worlds the importance of a such an undertaking and to inform them how to communicate and ‘sell’ the new face of Spain. The project is being jointly coordinated by the Instituto Español de Comercio Exterior (ICEX), the Elcano Royal Institute, the Foro de Marcas Renombradas Españolas and the Asociación de Directivos de Comunicación (DIRCOM), with the support of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The report states that: ‘This is not a project for experts or politicians alone; it should be, and is, something more: an effort in which all those who contribute to create an image for Spain should play their part, laying aside any temptation to be self-serving. “Marca España” is an affair of State’. The report covers all three scheduled phases: internal debates on ‘Marca España’, preparation of the report and, finally, presentation of the report on the ‘Marca España’ project, the result of which is this book.