Much was made of the apparent chemistry between Mariano Rajoy and Angela Merkel when the two leaders met in Madrid last week. The German Chancellor’s comment that she was “impressed with Spain’s reforms” was indeed music to the ears of the Spanish prime minister. Similar praise from European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn over the weekend, along with IMF managing director Christine Lagarde’s statement that measures taken by Italy and Spain were “adequate in and of themselves” was also welcome from Rajoy’s point of view. The Spanish leader is closely gauging these appraisals of his reform program because, as he almost certainly prepares to request some form of bailout from the … [Read more...] about EU praise can’t hide Rajoy’s bailout jitters
elections
Back to the future with Rubalcaba
Unity, strength and change were the basis of Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba’s rallying cry on winning the Spanish Socialist Party primary by the slimmest of margins on Saturday. But unity currently looks a tall order for the party, given that its 900 or so delegates were divided almost exactly down the middle in choosing Rubalcaba over Carme Chacón. And it can hardly daw on much strength, either, following its record losses in local and general elections in 2011. Rubalcaba himself was the candidate who suffered the general election loss, the Socialists’ worst in the democratic era, and it is now he who has been chosen to pick up the pieces and redefine the party. So change it is. What that … [Read more...] about Back to the future with Rubalcaba
Read my lips: Why did Rajoy break one of his few campaign promises?
“My intention is not to raise taxes.” It’s a line that Mariano Rajoy’s critics will repeat back at him for years to come. Much like George H. W. Bush’s infamous “Read my lips: no new taxes”, Rajoy’s pledge, made on December 19, during the debate ahead of his investiture as Spain’s new prime minister, has proved to be empty. Unlike Bush, Rajoy has not resisted or dragged his feet in performing a spectacular U-turn on this issue. Eleven days after saying he wouldn’t raise taxes, his deputy prime minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, announced tax increases that will bring in an extra €6 billion this year. As Spaniards digest the implications of the new Popular Party government’s … [Read more...] about Read my lips: Why did Rajoy break one of his few campaign promises?
Spain’s election will complete country’s swing to the right
On November 20, the fate of another European leader will be sealed by the ongoing economic crisis. Barring a major surprise, Spain will vote in conservative Mariano Rajoy as its new prime minister, to replace José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Zapatero is not running for reelection a second time, instead his Socialist colleague Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba is the government-backed candidate. But when Zapatero announced earlier this year that he would be stepping aside, there was no doubt that it was the economy that had cut his career short, in the same way it has ended the administrations of Georgios Papandreou of Greece and Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi. With Spain once again exposed to market … [Read more...] about Spain’s election will complete country’s swing to the right
Rajoy vs The Washington Post
Maybe it’s because of the condensed format, maybe because he was talking to a non-Spanish newspaper, or perhaps he was just in a particularly open mood, but Mariano Rajoy’s interview with the The Washington Post’s Lally Weymouth seemed unusually revealing. The Popular Party leader, now three weeks away from an apparently certain general election victory, was hardly expansive, but some of his answers were relatively bold for a politician who has made hiding his hand something of an art form. When asked whether he would go beyond Zapatero’s spending cuts, Rajoy is quite forthright: Yes, there is no other way out. I am in favor of reducing all budget items. But the item I don’t want to … [Read more...] about Rajoy vs The Washington Post
Ahead of election, Spain’s next prime minister leaves everyone guessing
Mariano Rajoy, leader of the opposition Popular Party, is set to put two election defeats behind him on November 20 and become Spain’s next prime minister. But his all-but-guaranteed victory (opinion polls suggest the PP will win around 190 seats in the 350-seat parliament, its largest ever majority) has little to do with him. Instead, it has much more to do with a three-year economic crisis, an intractable unemployment disaster and escalating worries about Spain’s debt and public account deficits – problems, compounded, if not induced in the eyes of many, by the economic mismanagement of the current Socialist administration of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Those issues, … [Read more...] about Ahead of election, Spain’s next prime minister leaves everyone guessing
How Sarkozy “turned Andorran politics upside down”
In 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy was responsible, according to the United States, for forcing the head of the Andorran government to give up a reelection bid, having issued a bitter public warning to the tiny Pyrenean principality’s leader about banking reform. The French leader's anger essentially helped the opposition take control of the government, the US believed. Explanations of what Sarkozy said and why he claimed he was “enraged” by the Andorrans are contained in a confidential cable from the US Consulate in Barcelona released earlier this month by the Wikileaks whistleblower site. Sarkozy had accused Andorra of slowing down a modification to the principality’s bank … [Read more...] about How Sarkozy “turned Andorran politics upside down”
In Catalonia, the fringe is setting the agenda
The last Catalan elections saw a shift both to the centre-right and to moderate nationalism, both embodied by Artur Mas’s Convergència i Unió (CiU). Although Mas didn't win an absolute majority, as president of Catalonia he has been able to implement austerity measures, revise the existing legal corpus and get moving on his favourite issue of a new fiscal pact with Spain; all well within his mandate, the statutes of his parties and the legal framework. However, there is another, key matter Mas might have lost control over, handing it to the radical fringe: Catalan identity and whether or not Catalonia will continue to be part of Spain. Mas has certainly sought to continue the … [Read more...] about In Catalonia, the fringe is setting the agenda
Rajoy approaches the big job with his head down
As rumours that next year’s general election will be brought forward to the autumn intensify, so does the realisation that by the end of the year, Mariano Rajoy could be prime minister. The strange thing is, judging by his party’s recent behaviour, this doesn’t seem to have dawned on him. If he had fully grasped the reality of his situation, you would think he would tone down the talk of Spain being an economic basket case. But his opposition Popular Party (PP) is determined to hint, suggest, or just plain decry, that the country is in real trouble. Since last year, the PP has been openly wondering whether Spain deserves to be in the same bracket as Greece, Portugal and Ireland. In … [Read more...] about Rajoy approaches the big job with his head down
All too predictable
Under the Greece-evoking headline, ‘Hidden’ debt raises Spain bond fears, Financial Times Madrid correspondent Victor Mallet proceeded to outline the hypothesis of Spanish Cato Institute fellow (and vocal political activist, if it need be said given the company he keeps), Lorenzo Bernaldo de Quirós, that the probable overturning of many regional and local governments in the upcoming vote would result in 26.4 billion euros of concealed debt – specifically attributable to the myriad government-owned corporations conjured into existence for a variety of motives - being brought out into the open. Ignoring for the moment how Mr. Bernaldo de Quirós might have come up with so specific a figure … [Read more...] about All too predictable