ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the problems of the Spanish economy, which in the end are linked to any political ambitions that the country may have domestically or internationally. Apart from the labour market reforms which were set out in the European employment strategy, there are other structural aspects that are intertwined and which have contributed to the semi-peripherality of the Spanish economy. Macroeconomic policy is shared across the European Union in order to create a single European market. The new concept of flexicurity discussed at the European Union, namely the establishment of flexible labour markets, strong welfare states and active labour market policies should anybody lose their job, was central to the new deliberations of the government. The European innovation scoreboard of the European Union has developed a quite sophisticated index taking into account a considerable number of indicators.
