Even so, it was a surprise when his party returned to power on March 12 with an outright majority. While radiating confidence, Aznar remains a serious and publicly restrained man. He met last week with NEWSWEEK’s Stryker McGuire and Emma Daly in Moncloa Palace, his Madrid office and residence. It was his first interview with non-Spanish journalists since the election. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: The last time we interviewed you was in February 1997. Since then, what has changed, what has improved? AZNAR: Spain itself has changed. We Spaniards have definitively completed the transition to democracy. So Spaniards are now thinking about the future, and neither the prejudices nor the cliches nor the quarrels of the past are important anymore.
And the economy? We have created more than 50 percent of all the new jobs in the European Union in four years through a combination of factors. First, a policy of economic stability, including cleaning up public finances, the near elimination of the public deficit, low rates of interest, control of prices. Next, a policy of reform and liberalization–reforming the labor market and pension systems, liberalization of telecommunications and energy, privatization of the public sector. And third, dialogue between employers and unions. The results are four consecutive years of strong growth–at the moment, the Spanish economy is growing at 4 percent.
What remains to be done? The first thing I did after winning the elections was to call the unions and the employers to tell them to sit down and reflect on what has worked well and what has not–because the aim is full employment. We will cut taxes for individuals and businesses and conclude the privatization of the public sector. We have to continue modernizing our welfare system. We can create another 1.4 million new jobs in the next few years, but above all we need to get women into the labor market. Today I have done something absolutely new in Spanish life: the Congress of Deputies will have a female president for the first time in our history, and the Senate will continue to have a woman as president. This is a symbol of the new Spain.
A new Spanish problem is immigration. The problems with the immigration process come when it is uncontrolled. Spain was traditionally a country of emigrants, and now we are a destination for immigrants. A U.N. report says that by 2050 Spain will have the oldest population in the world and will have lost 10 million people, and that if we want to maintain our population, we will have to do it through immigration. To think that any country would tolerate the arrival of 10 million immigrants in such a time frame–it’s ridiculous. So we have to improve our birthrate while we aim for the total incorporation of women into the work force. This means we must be ready to change work and family structures.
What about the problems in the Basque country? I believe that Spain will bring about a definitive end to terrorism in the next few years. For years the parties said that only the nationalists could govern the Basque country. Now there is a political alternative–we [the Popular Party] want to govern there.
How come your most famous political friendship is with a man supposedly of the left [British Prime Minister Tony Blair]? Tony Blair did an intelligent thing because he’s an intelligent man: coming from social democracy and knowing that it didn’t work, he invented the “Third Way.” I didn’t have to invent anything, because my way has worked and has won. But within this new politics of centrist reforms, there are many meeting points. Europe needs to opt for a very open model, modernizing of our welfare systems and making structural reforms, to produce a competitive Europe with jobs. The old Europe–protectionist and closed, conservative, unable to compete–has failed, and it’s not the Europe I want. So we have to push another way.
Toward the American model? No, because Europe has its traditions, its culture. But it must be a model that can compete against the United States. Do I want us to be like the United States? No. I want to compete, and compete well, against the United States.
