Spain vote may change govt, not foreign policy

MADRID – From defending Spain’s interests within the EU to its tortuous relations with Morocco, there will be no shortage of foreign policy challenges for right-wing leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo if he wins the July 23 election.

But the main challenge will undoubtedly be more personal, according to analysts: to assert himself on the international stage to ensure Spain’s voice continues to be clearly heard.

At the helm of the right-wing Popular Party for the past year, Feijoo, 61, “doesn’t have a great track record in international politics,” said Ignacio Molina, senior analyst at the Elcano Royal Institute, a Madrid think-tank.

And judging by his campaign, “he is not going to take any decision which will involve any big change in foreign policy, whether that be within the EU, NATO or in the defence of Spain’s interests,” he told AFP. AFP