Is Spain an anti-tech country?
The Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) asked me to write an article after Spain took over the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union. I decided to explore whether Spain had become one of the most anti-technology countries in the 26-member bloc. The article is entitled “Should We Expect a Spanish Tech Inquisition?” (pdf), and was published on Wednesday.
Decisions such as expelling Google News from the country in 2014, which put Spain in the position of being the only democracy in the world without the service, along with its approach to the arrival of Uber, Deliveroo and others platforms, has cast Spain as being hostile toward technology, a perception that may impact its ability to attract investment and talent, and one that now could be further reinforced as it attempts to lead the imposition of restrictions on end-to-end encryption.
I went to great pains to write in positive and reasonably constructive tones, although there is also criticism: while some of the episodes mentioned above were important political mistakes and demonstrated that Spanish politicians have little…
