over the past two years, the conflict Catalan has occupied a large part of the attention that the foreign media dedicated to Spain. Something that has consequences in the external image of Spain: a barometer carried out by the Elcano Royal Institute reveals that 46% of the population of the nine countries that add up to almost 80% of the european GDP believes that the procés is a serious problem, although a percentage similar (49%) believes that Catalonia will continue forming part of Spain in the future. Although in the majority of countries consulted in the evaluation of Spain has not changed, in Germany and Belgium, where there have been judicial proceedings relating to the procés, more than 15% of the population ensures that their opinion has worsened since the beginning of the conflict for independence.
The eighth wave of the Barometer Image of Spain (BIE) of the Elcano Royal Institute is based on a global sample of 3.790 interviews conducted last September among citizens 18 to 70 years-residents in nine countries: Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Sweden. German, Polish and Portuguese are the most seen in the conflict with Catalonia as a serious problem (around 60% of the population), while italians, French and british, whose countries have had greater or lesser extent, experiences with independence movements, see it as a problem, but not important.
There is confusion, however, about the political will of the Catalan population. As explained by the principal investigator and director of the Observatory of the Image of Spain, Elcano Royal Institute, Carmen Gonzalez, there are many “don’t know”, something to be expected because “there is no reason to assume that the citizens of other countries know the real distribution of the vote Catalan”. Among those who claim to know the situation, there is a division: the 37% of the respondents in the set of countries considered are most the catalans that want the independence; the 12% minority, and 32%, that the population of this community is “divided equally” on this issue. If it is quite clear to the european population (60%) is that the rest of Spain does not want this independence, and in Portugal, much Betorder closer to the Spanish news, almost the entire population knows the rejection that the Catalan independence awakens in between the rest of the spaniards.
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The conflict Catalan has not altered the assessment that the vast majority of the interviewees make of Spain in the countries of the sample. However, in Belgium, 17% says that the procés has negatively influenced their image of Spain; in Germany, a 16% saying the same thing and population percentages to be statistically significant have changed for the worse your opinion about the country.
despite this concern for the problem, Catalan, Gonzalez has ensured that “Spain remains one of the countries with the best image in Europe”, with a rating of 7.1 out of 10, behind only Sweden and the Netherlands tied with Germany. By countries, Spain receives the highest ratings of Poland, and Portugal, and the worst of Sweden and Germany. In addition, the valuation remains stable with respect to other years, although there is a decrease of the valuation with respect to 2017 in Germany and France, with declines of around four tenths.
as in other years, Spain is especially valued for its attractive tourist (8,1), something that according to the researcher can be explained because the majority of the respondents know the country for having made tourism in he. The next most valued of Spain is the quality of its food, the friendliness of its citizens and their sporting achievements. On the other side of the coin, the majority of the population of these nine european countries give a low score to the political life, the economy and Spanish companies, although all of these aspects approved on a scale of 0 to 10.