Aznar blames Sánchez's "bad policies" that Spain has not recovered its pre-pandemic economic level

He warns that they suffer energy and nuclear "blackmail" with Putin and regrets the "enormous penetration" of China and Russia in Latin America

MADRID, 20 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The former Prime Minister, José María Aznar, has stressed that it is urgent to think about how to grow and has blamed the "bad policies" of the Government of Pedro Sánchez for the fact that Spain has not yet recovered its pre-pandemic economic level, as other European countries have done. After lamenting the energy and nuclear "blackmail" they are suffering at the moment, he has warned of the "enormous penetration" of China and Russia in Latin American countries.

This is how he spoke in his speech at the International Forum "20 years of FIL: Democracy and Freedom" that the International Foundation for Freedom, chaired by Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa, has organized in Madrid on the occasion of its twentieth anniversary.

Specifically, Aznar has participated together with the former presidents of Mexico, Ernesto Zedillo and Felipe Calderón, and the former Minister of Justice of Brazil, Sergio Moro, in the panel 'Present and future of Ibero-America. New challenges'. The forum, which was held in the Auditorium of the headquarters of the Community of Madrid, has previously had the intervention of the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso.

Aunar, who chairs the Atlantic Institute of Government (IADG), has started his speech stressing that they live in "messy and enormously confusing" times, full of "uncertainty". However, he has pointed out that the vocation of a political leader "has to be trying to provide certainty" because to provide uncertainty "there are already too many candidates and volunteers."

The former chief executive has indicated that Covid-19 "has been tragic for everyone" and has had "very harsh effects in many parts of the world." "In Spain too, where the pre-pandemic economic level has not yet recovered. It is the only European country that has not done so because of the bad policies that are practiced, for no other reason", he has proclaimed.

In addition, he pointed out that they are experiencing a "cruel war" in Europe after the "terrible" invasion of Ukraine, with a "truly certain risk of extension of the war and where a good part of the world is suffering from two forms of blackmail": an "energy blackmail of first magnitude" and a "nuclear blackmail" that he hopes will not reach "an irreversible magnitude".

These events, he continued, coincide with a "digitization process" and the "most important technological revolution in the history of mankind" which, in his opinion, gives "many opportunities for freedom" but also entails risks. "Never in history have human beings been as manipulable as they are today and that has a decisive effect on the exercise of freedom," he warned.

He has also alluded to the end of globalization that began after the cold war, with a process of regionalization by groups and blocs that has led to the end of the political expression of the so-called liberal order and the primacy of liberal institutions. As he added, the consequence is a clear tendency for liberal democracies to be replaced by "supposed authoritarian or illiberal systems."

Aznar stressed that they are experiencing "extraordinarily difficult and complicated" economic circumstances, with an energy crisis. "The oil crisis of 1973 has nothing to do with the current one," he added, adding to this is a "growing inflationary movement in all countries," which are "constrained by enormous public debt and deficits."

In addition, he lamented that "little attention is paid to growth" and stressed that leaders and governments should "be more focused on how they can grow, create opportunities and build and then be able to distribute".

"If we look at Ibero-America, politically we see elements of democratic backsliding, with very open populism, to which we in Spain are not alien, or radical extremist positions that endanger the foundations of liberal democracies in some countries", he emphasized.

The former president lamented the lack of North American leadership and a "weakened and diminished presence of Spain in the region." "The US does not exist in Latin America", he has affirmed, to add that this "means a lack of interest also from the EU in Latin America".

Aznar highlighted some "traditional" problems that affect these Latin American countries, such as "institutional weakness, lack of legal certainty, poor development of the rule of law, and poor growth." And he has warned that "the first factor of competitiveness of a country continues to be its institutions."

In this context, the former President of the Government has pointed out two fields of opportunity in Latin America: the technological and digital revolution; and the green revolution. Regarding the first, he has said that the gap that Ibero-American countries have with other areas of the world must be reduced because if they do not do so, economic and social opportunities "are going to be reduced."

Secondly, the former President of the Government has emphasized the green transition and has indicated that all issues related to energy have "an extraordinarily relevant opportunity" in Ibero-America in terms of mineral resources, oil, natural resources, biodiversity or water. sweet.

Of course, Aznar has expressed his wish that Ibero-America not look "where it shouldn't" because that leads to "the influence of foreign powers" being "very present". "I am referring to the enormous Chinese and Russian penetration in many Ibero-American countries. For Ibero-America, being part of the Atlantic world of freedoms, which even in fragments will continue to be the great guarantee of freedom and stability in the world, seems basic to me" , It's over.