Fernando Vallespín
Fernando Vallespín is Professor of Political Science at the Autonomous University of Madrid. From 2004 to 2008, he directed the Centre for Sociological Investigations (CIS, a public organisation studying Spanish society). Author of several books on political theory, he writes regularly for the El País daily.
Updated: 13 April 2012
On July 19, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated against the austerity policies of the Mariano Rajoy government. Today, when a leap forward is needed, the trust between Spaniards and those who govern them has broken down, deplores sociologist Fernando Vallespín.
The financial crisis is at Spain’s doorstep, and all the other European countries can do is rejoice that this fate has not befallen them. This sentiment, so well expressed by the German word Schadenfreude, puts Europe itself at risk, warns a Spanish political scientist.