Messages in the Media - University of Toronto

FINDINGS:
The following major topics were widely discussed in the
domestic media over the course of 2011.
The Eurozone Crisis
The domestic economic downturn as well as the Eurozone
crisis dominated the national Spanish press.
- In January 2011, ABC de Seville and the Barcelona Reporter
reported that despite the rising debt and the subsequent
debt crisis, China is still willing to absorb a debt
of €5.65 billion while the EU is expecting Spain to request
a bailout, despite protestations from Prime Minister Jose
Luis Rodriguez Zapatero 6
- In the same month, El Pais reported that if the EU were to
absorb the Spanish debt it would be the largest of the
European bailouts, as the Spanish economy is twice the
size of Ireland, Greece, and Portugal combined. 7
- On 1 March 2011, the Barcelona Reporter noted that despite
the Spanish government’s optimism for an economic
recovery, the fact that Spain is affected by both the international
financial crisis and its own sovereign debt crisis,
limited the prospects of an economic upturn. Prime Minister
Zapatero promised to lower unemployment from 20
percent (the highest of any EU member) as well as to reduce
the deficit. 8
- Later in March, European leaders set a date to analyze a
package that would help resolve Spain’s sovereign debt
crisis after Moody downgraded Spain’s credit rating, as
reported in the press. Prime Minister Zapatero insisted
that it would only cost 20 billion euro to refinance the
banking sector while Moody estimated the effort would
require between 40 to 50 billion euro. The package proposed
by the EU would help consolidate the debt and take
pressure of the public sector. 9
- Media reports from 21 June 2011 indicated that the Spanish
Government confirmed that while EU ministers were
meeting to discuss further emergency funds for debt re-
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