Summary
- Spain has for several years played an influential role in EU crypto policy development, something that is expected to continue following June’s polls.
- Sweden, despite its banking industry, has played no role in helping to shape EU crypto policy in the current European Parliament.
Spain enjoys an active presence in EU crypto policy
Spain currently holds 59 seats in the outgoing EP, increasing to 61 in June. Only Germany, France and Italy have more MEPs. Spanish MEPs are spread throughout the political spectrum, with the top three delegations sitting in the S&D group (21 MEPs), the EPP group (13 MEPs) and the Renew group (nine MEPs). Interestingly, Spain is the only large Member State not to have representatives in the far-right ID group, though this is likely to change come June.
Perhaps the most famous MEP is the non-attached Catalan nationalist Carles Puigdemont. He remains the figurehead for the Catalan nationalist movement despite being in exile in Belgium after being convicted for insurrection in Spain for organizing an illegal referendum on Catalan independence. A recent amnesty agreement by Socialist President Pedro Sánchez, brokered as part of a deal to retain power, has caused mass protests and civic unrest throughout Spain. It is against this backdrop of sustained political division and instability that Spain will elect its MEPs in June.
Spain’s Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) committee make-up consists of six MEPs, several of whom have held influential and active roles in crypto policy development over recent years. Jonás Fernández has been the S&D coordinator on ECON for the last term, a role that sees him negotiate rapporteurship and shadow rapporteurship as well as allocating them to specific MEPs in his group. Isabel Benjumea (EPP) has focussed mainly on capital markets issues, but she was her group shadow on the creation of the AML Authority (her Renew colleague Eva Maria Poptcheva was co-rapporteur) and worked on a report on an EU framework for withholding tax. Spain’s former foreign minister (2011-2016) José Manuel García-Margallo was first elected as MEP in 1994 and returned to the EP in 2019. Less active in ECON than in previous terms (during which he was vice-chair), García-Margallo nevertheless was EPP shadow on the recently adopted instant payments regulation.
In terms of the polls, the recent domestic victory for the Socialist-led coalition is unlikely to be replicated at EU level. Currently the EPP-affiliated Partido Popular (polling at 36%) has a five-point lead against its socialist rivals, which will likely mean the Spanish S&D delegation will lose a few seats while the Spanish EPP will add a few. There follows a big gap before we reach the next parties, with the controversial ECR-affiliated far-right Vox party polling level at 10% with the recently established and currently unaffiliated Sumar (unite) platform. Group formations on the far right and far left could well see Vox and Sumar courted for their delegations, with the former a target for ID and the latter most likely to join the GUE/Left (but possibly also the Greens/EFA).
Sweden shows a surprising lack of involvement in EU crypto policy development
Sweden has 21 MEPs spread throughout the political spectrum. The biggest delegations are in the EPP (six MEPs) and the S&D group (five MEPs).
Historically, Sweden has had strong representation on ECON, given the importance and size of the Swedish banking sector relative to GDP. In the outgoing EP, however, Sweden had no MEPs on ECON, suggesting other Swedish political policy priorities at EU level. As such, Swedish input in the EP into crypto and digital policy has been non-existent.
When it comes to the polls, the governing S&D-affiliated Social Democrat Party has a commanding lead, currently projected to secure approximately 36%. This would put it in a strong position to retain its six seats. The more interesting political battle is for second place with only a wafer-thin difference in support for the ECR-affiliated Swedish Democrats (21%) and the EPP-affiliated Moderate Party. Were these figures to hold, it looks likely that the EPP delegation would lose several seats while the ECR delegation would likely add an additional seat.