I believe it's still true even if you add in regional debts. From what I can find, before the current crisis, outstanding central government debt hovered around 30-35% of GDP, while regional debt added up to around 10% of GDP, for a total of 40-45% of GDP, one of the lower debt totals among large economies in Europe. Lately it's been ballooning due to a mixture of: 1) interest-rate rises producing a self-fulfilling prophecy; 2) recession reducing tax revenue and increasing safety-net expenses; and 3) recession causing the GDP denominator to get smaller.
The main difference I can see is just that the German economy is much stronger than the Spanish economy, not any difference in fiscal discipline. Germany can afford to carry bigger deficits and bigger debts because it has a comparatively strong economy; same reason the U.S. can maintain much higher deficits than Spain without borrowing costs increasing.
The main difference I can see is just that the German economy is much stronger than the Spanish economy, not any difference in fiscal discipline. Germany can afford to carry bigger deficits and bigger debts because it has a comparatively strong economy; same reason the U.S. can maintain much higher deficits than Spain without borrowing costs increasing.