Some observers say that, like Don Quixote, Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is tilting at windmills. So far, Spain is still not on the list of countries invited to the G20 international meeting in Washington on November 15.

US President George W. Bush called the summit at the urging of several heads of state, including Nicolas Sarkozy, to discuss the financial crisis and the world economy. But he didn’t send an invitation to Spain. 

Theoretically, participants are limited to the G20 countries, a group created in 1999 during the crisis on Asian markets. It unites members of the G8 – which Spain does not  belong to – and the so-called ‘emerging economies’.

Since mid-week, Spain has redoubled its diplomatic efforts at all levels to get invited. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero even re-shuffled his diary to get to the Asian-European summit in Beijing this Friday. There, he’ll be mingling with Chinese and Indonesian leaders – whose countries will be represented at the Washington summit – to plead his cause.

Despite all these efforts, a source in the Spanish government told FRANCE 24 this morning that for the time being, there is "no change in the situation. But we’re not discouraged: Spain has every right to bring its experience to the table, especially its expertise in regulating financial systems. Everyone in Europe knows that Spain can face the crisis better than most".

Because of its draconian regulation system, the Bank of Spain has always encouraged its financial institutions to lay their foundations on a solid base of commercial, not investment, banking. Thanks to this risk-limitation, Spain can now boast that none of its banks is facing collapse.

The Spanish government is trying everything to drum up support. The campaign teams of both US Presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, have been contacted. A senior official at the French Embassy in Madrid confirmed to FRANCE 24 that French diplomats are working with the Spanish government to resolve the issue.

According to the Ambassador, Bruno Delaye, Paris believes that Spain’s presence at the summit would be "totally valid, because it is the eighth most powerful economy in the world". This is precisely what is irritating the Spaniards – particularly trade unions and political parties – who point out that their gross domestic product is equal to that of Canada, which does belong to the G8.

It remains to be seen if José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will be left with only the consolation prize of Paris’s and London’s support. For  the moment, George W. Bush, whose relations with Spain are chilly, continues to turn a blind eye. Tony Fratto, spokesperson for the White House, said on Thursday that it would be difficult to reach consensus if there were too many participants. He said that Spain was welcome to bring forth its ideas "on its own with any of the leaders that will be participating or through their representation at the summit through the European Commission".

This is not washing with the Spanish government, which responded: "We want to speak for ourselves, we’re not looking around trying to find a spokesperson. "